Hope's New World
by Kaithdynn
Summary: Hope turns 18 on a new world, after the events of Final Fantasy: Lightning Returns. He rejoins life with all of his friends from the old world. Hoperai, HopexLight, HopeLight, Hopurai
1. Chapter 1

The day he turned 18 she came, at the spot where he had waited for her every night for the past 3 years.

He felt her before he saw her. One moment, he was alone, as he had been all his life, and the next, he felt her move from behind him.

"Welcome home, Light."

He knew he should say those words, had practiced them over and over in his head for years, not knowing the true value of what they meant, but knowing they were the correct things to say all the same.

A voice in the darkness. "I'm still watching your rear. After all these years, after all this time. But no longer. We are partners, Hope. I should stand by your side now. You no longer have to take point."

It is the new world. A place of new beginnings. But his soul is old, in spite of his 18 years. He had known, since before he was even born, that this day would come. He had been preparing for it since he could remember.

And now the time had come.

Carefully, slowly, Hope Estheim steps off his salt-slick rock. The sea crashes in waves beneath his lookout point, and with deliberate slowness, he looks up at her. _She has come._

As the years have ticked by, Hope has become less and less sure of what her appearance should be like. With each passing birthday, more features would slip from his memory, but the last vestiges he still retains are identical in sight as they are in mind: rose-colored hair, long legs, alabaster skin, dewy smile.

"You sure took your time to find me." Hope self-consciously wipes his fingerless gloves on the back of his khakis. "I've waited for you for a long time."

"I wanted to make sure that you had a good childhood before I found you. Since today is your birthday, I came the on the day I thought most appropriate to re-introduce myself." The haunting woman from Hope's dreams steps forward, more into the streetlight, hair glowing from the halo above them.

"Lightning. That was your name once. Yes, I remember." Hope thinks hard, squeezing his eyes. "So much is lost."

A look of...concern washes over Claire's face for a moment as she looks off into the distance. "Yes, it's good that a lot of that time has disappeared from your memories. A lot of that time, for you especially, wasn't pleasant. It's my burden to remember everything. Nothing has lost any value for me. Since you're 18 now, I can go over what happened in more detail for you if you ask me. That's a decision you have to make, though, on whether you want to remember the past more accurately or not." Claire smiles at Hope as he opens his eyes once more, and takes his hand in both of hers. "But that's for later. We have...time, now. It's your birthday. It's a time for celebration...and meeting with old friends. First, though, I'd like to see your parents. It's been...a long time since I've spoken with your father. And I'd like to meet your mother, Nora."

"How...did you know my parents' names? I mean, I know that I'd meet you, Claire, by the sea..."

"...please, call me Light." The older woman smiles, a mischievous glint in her eyes that Hope doesn't quite understand. "It would...please me if you'd call me that. No one in this new place knows my old name. It's a little secret that only a few people know. But you, Hope," she states, lifting his chin so that he looks up at her face, "you are different. Please call me Light. It was my old name."

"Old name?" The boy looks back and forth across the woman's face, at the same time so familiar and yet so alien. "Okay...Light. I only remember bits and pieces. It's so fuzzy. I know that I'm older than 18 years old. I know that I was born in another world. I know that there are a few people living in this place here with me that can help me with my memories, because they came from the same place that I come from." He turns toward the night, and the sea. Light's arm slips comfortably across his broad set of shoulders, and together, they stare out into the waters.

"My parents are from the old world with me, I know. I know that they have been my parents longer than I've been alive. They won't tell me everything, though. When I ask, they tell me that I have to wait until I get older to truly understand everything that happened in our past. It's driven me crazy, sometimes I thought I'd go mad with the knowledge that I was...different...from the other kids, y'know? I haven't had the best time growing up. My mom and dad were always keeping things from me, only telling me bits and pieces...and I knew that the seashore was a special place. I kept having this dream...you were in it." Flushed, embarrassed, the young man turns to Light.

"I knew that if I kept waiting by the sea, that a woman would show up and help explain things to me. That my life would be better...if I just waited until she came to set things right. That woman...is you, Light." The boy looks up past silver locks to the woman by his side. "I don't know who you are, except that you are an old friend. I have this...feeling...around you like I've known you for years. It's so weird. But I didn't know when you'd come." Obviously distraught, the young man wrings his hands and paces back and forth under the streetlight, turning on his heel in cirlces. "Here you are. The dream I had of you is the only thing that has kept me sane all these years. My parents...they knew, and they held it back from me. You are the key. If I hadn't had my dreams, if I hadn't known to meet you, if you hadn't showed up..."

"Hey, Hope." Claire, or Light, or whoever this mysterious older woman is, leans in to place her hands on the young man's shoulders once more, physically halting his worried pacing. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry your life has been so strange. I believe you. It was hard growing up around the other kids, knowing you didn't belong, knowing you were...different...somehow. No one explained anything to you, or helped you. You felt older, smarter, stronger than others your own age. I'm sorry your parents, who should have been there to help you through this, especially since they could relate to the feelings you were experiencing, weren't there to ease you through your stress. I'm sorry that I didn't show up until now. There are...reasons." The woman releases Hope, straightening. The boy follows her stance, looking up at her porcelain face once more. She is very beautiful.

"All I can tell you is that your dreams weren't wrong. I'm here, at the right place...and, believe me, the right time. I will explain everything, if you want. I have the answers. And I am now at the right place to give you my undivided attention, which you deserve. But, like I said earlier, it's a celebration, and I have a surprise for you, for your birthday."

"Hey...by the way, how did you know it was my birthday?" Hope asks, tossing a lock out of his face. "Lucky guess...but, it's strange."

"We were friends, once, a long time ago. We told each other our deepest secrets, and I know it's going to take a lot of time to regain that here. You are right that you are older than your 18 years would lead you to believe. Your soul is much older than that. You come from another world, along with me, and a few other friends I'd like you to meet, if you're up to it. Perhaps it will help jog your memory, if you'd like to meet up. I have them waiting for you. We've all been waiting for you to come of age, so you could join us."

"Us?" Hope looks up. "You mean, there's more than you, and me, and my parents?"

Light smiles. "A lot more. Everyone that came from our old world is now on this one, plus more. There are good people, and the bad. That has already led to some confrontations, which fortunately, you have been left out of. But now you are old enough to join the fight, and to get your memories back, if you want. I can provide you with everything you want and more, if that's what you want. But you are special, Hope. Unique."

"How?" The boy asks, leaning in, but hesitantly. Light sighs, shaking the hair from her eyes. Why is she the one to explain things? Talking was never her strong point, not on this world, not on the old one. It is so cruel that her old vices would continue to plague her, thousands of years later and on another planet, no less. _This isn't going to be easy,_ the old warrior-woman in a young woman's body realizes. _He's still as much a child now as he was then. But he deserves the truth, and the very best out of me. I can deliver on nothing less._

"You are the only one out of all of us to be born to the same parents on this world as you had on the last one. That's why your parents remember what happened before, as do you. So you have the advantage of growing up from an infant into, now, an adult, here. I never had a childhood on this planet. I came here as I am now. Me, and the others. We haven't waited as you have. We haven't had experiences from this world to draw from for 18 years like you have. So we don't have all this time of confusion that you are experiencing. We have just arrived."

"We?" Hope asks again, rubbing his arms. The sea air is cold. He shivers.

"That's the surprise I was talking about earlier. Like I said, you have more friends than you can imagine. But you have a choice. I can leave now, forever, if that's what you want. You don't have to meet the others, and you don't have to ever see me again, if that's what you want."

Light looks sad as she crosses her arms over her chest. "That's what makes you special. You have a choice, as we did not. That's why your parents have kept as much from you as they could. They wanted to spare you the knowledge, the burden we all carry. You can choose to abandon the old world, and after time, more memories that you can remember now will fade. You will eventually remember only the memories you cultivate yourself on this new world, if you want. Your parents wanted you to be able to have that life, if that's what you wanted to choose. That's why we waited, your parents and me, and all the others, until you turned 18 to give you the choice. You're an adult on this world now, Hope. In this timeline. You can pick up where you left off a long time ago, or you can choose to abandon everything you knew then, and I will go away, never to return. You don't have to meet people from your old life. Your parents will respect your decision to treat you as if you have had only one lifetime. We can't forget, Hope. That's our curse, and our blessing. We carry two lifetimes on our back. We appeared here long after you did, in the bodies we belong to now. That's why I couldn't have come sooner." She smiles. "But I'm glad you waited for me. Very glad. If nothing else, if you choose to abandon the Hope you once were, I at least will get to say goodbye."

Hope cries out, throwing his head back and grabbing his arms, a single tear trickling down his cheek. "This is too much! None of this is making sense! More memories keep disappearing every day!"

"Do you want to remember?" Light asks him, almost shouting. Angry, she places her hands on her hips.

Sniffling, the boy looks up at the woman, the picture of teenage rebelliousness. "Do you want me to?"

Light exhales, turning. "It doesn't matter what I want." She turns her back to the boy, shoulders slumping. For some reason, seeing the dejected look on Light's body hurts Hope to witness.

"Hey, why don't I meet these 'old friends' you were talking about?" The boy replies, quieter, after a moment. "Then...maybe I can take some time to figure out what I want."

Light smiles, her back to the child still. _He isn't throwing me...us...away. There's still Hope._ "I was hoping you wouldn't say no to your own birthday party. After all, we've been waiting a long time, and all we needed was for the guest of honor to show up." She turns, holding out a hand to the young man. "Coming?"

Feeling for the first time in his new life that this was where he belonged, the boy grins lopsidedly and accepts the outstretched hand, clasping it in his. The touch feels good, he feels..._right._

"Just one more thing, Light. Was...I Hope, back on the old world that we came from?"The boy asks hesitantly, as they walk toward a motorbike that is glinting just out of the spill of light pouring from the streetlamp.

Light chuckles, throwing a glance over a shoulder as their boots _crunch crunch_ gently on the beach sand. "You have always been Hope, on this world, and the last one."


	2. Chapter 2

"You can't go that way!" Hope shouts into the wind behind Light as they zoom down the graveled beach roads. "It's been shut off for months now! Some sort of military testing zone!"

The mysterious, rose-haired woman remains silent as they carom past windy corners. They aren't too far from the lookout point where Hope had been waiting to find her. Only a few blocks down the road, and they are lightly zipping past "DANGER-ROAD WORK" signs and "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY" warnings.

Sighing in frustration, the teen grits his teeth and clutches the woman in front of him tighter around the waist. She had insisted that it would be easier where they were going for him to ride on the back of her motorbike instead of take his car that he drove. He should have trusted his instincts when warning bells went off in his head about hopping on bikes with strangers.

Yet there was something...pulling...him toward trusting her. Fleeting memories danced in his head, mostly blurred colors, of another time and place where he felt comfortable around this same person. After waiting so long to find answers about who he was and what his life on this world meant, he agreed to hop on, knowing that she would be his only link to getting more info.

He didn't like riding on the back like some kid, though. He was an adult now. He could drive. Grr.

After a moment they slow, and the long-legged woman walks the bike to a stop. Hope prepares to jump off, but Light stays him with an upraised palm.

"Just give me a moment." She states, then reaches into a shirt breast pocket to pull out an ID badge of some sort. Hope can't see much in the dark, but he can see around Light's shoulder enough to see her swipe the end through a scanner he hadn't known was embedded into a strange rock close by. There is the faintest "beep", and Light is jogging back to the bike.

"Come on, the security alarm doesn't give us much time to drive by," she states, and effortlessly straddles the engine with one roundhouse sweep of her boot, careful not to knock out Hope's teeth in the process.

The engine purrs back to life, and then they are winding past a sandy trail down the side of the beach cliffs.

As soon as they round the first bend, Hope can see twinkling lights coming from a little Tiki shack down by the waterfront. There is shallow place right by the beach, complete with a pier. Music can be heard faintly wafting over from the scene over the sound of wind and waves.

Light wasn't joking about not being able to take the car. There's no way anything other than a motorcycle can twist down the narrow path to the beachside. Mollified, Hope is silent until they pull up to a spot beside the house.

The boy recognizes one of the few dozen vehicles pulled up close by.

"Hey, that's my parents' car! How did they...get down here?" Scratching his head, Hope turns a puzzled face up the embankment they had just came down. "There's no way..."

"Like I said, I wanted to meet them tonight. They're here for your party. You didn't think your own parents would miss your 18th birthday celebration, did you?" The older woman chuckles, then pats the boy a little too hard on the back. "Don't worry, I have my secrets. They were given a way in earlier. Our friends helped get them to this location. You were my cargo."

"Cargo? OUR friends? Wait, this is getting a little out of hand..."

"I thought I heard voices down here!" A huge, bulky blonde guy with a cheesy grin and bleached hair runs up through the cars. "Can't be too careful. I'm on guard duty. Glad you could make it, Light."

The woman smiles at the surfer-type blonde, but it doesn't touch her eyes. She opens her mouth to retort, but Hope beats her.

"Snow!" Hope grins widely, remembering the gentle giant of a man with blue eyes. "You...but it's been..."

"It's been too long, Hope." Snow Villiers laughs and punches the shoulder of the smaller boy good-naturedly.

"Ow." Hope winces, grabbing his arm. "That's gonna bruise."

"Sorry." Snow strokes his chin. "Sometimes I forget that in this world, we're just human. Gotta be more careful. But then again, it's not like you could ever take it in the old world we lived in, either."

"Where did we come from?" Hope asks then. "I remember it. I lived in a place a lot like this one, but there was magic, and a boomerang, and a great fight...falling monsters coming from out of the sky..."

"We lived in a place called Coccon." It's the first time that Light has spoken the name of her original birthplace on this world, and the noticeable catch in her breath before she can speak is noticeable to the two men that can hear her. "It was Coccoon, and there was another world below it, a world called Pulse."

"That's GRAN Pulse, if I may say so myself." Two women walk up from around the bend, the taller, older one pushing the younger one forward.

The younger one is around Hope's age, if he had to guess, with the same color hair as Light. She runs up, laughing, and something from her smile sets Hope's heart at ease.

"Vanille." He barely gets out as she laughs and almost bowls Hope over with an easygoing hug. The two laugh and Vanille, still slightly taller than Hope even in this reincarnation, bends over slightly to look at her old comrade-in-arms in the eyes.

"You look just the same. Well, except for this world's clothing." The young woman looks down at herself in a bikini top and a sari slung over the bikini bottom. "Oops, I'm a little wet. I just got back from a swim."

Hope looks down at the front of his shirt, now sticky and plastered to his chest. "Yeah, I noticed."

"Nice to see you made it in one piece, kid." The older of the duo of women has caught up to the growing parking lot crowd now, slightly limping and walking with a very intricate shiny black cane.

Hope laughs awkwardly, a little uncomfortable under the ageless, knowing eyes. "Fang." The name feels right. "You were there, too. With Vanille...and Snow...but there were others, faces I'm missing."

"Yeah, we were all waiting for the guest of honor to show up." Fang points back at the sounds of laughter and music coming from the little beach hut. "Now that you're here, wouldn't want to keep anyone waiting, now would we?"

"I...I guess not." They start walking down the little path, voices gibbering all around (mostly Vanille's), and Hope looks up at the woman walking a little slower with the cane.

"What happened? I remember in my dreams a woman full of energy and confidence, but with wisdom that was beyond her age. I mean, I hate to be so blunt, but...your leg..."

"Ah, I think it's like Snow was saying before I got a chance to speak up," Fang waves off Hope's concern, looking away to hide the grit in her teeth, "I forget that we're just human in this world. I push myself too hard here. Have to learn to pace myself. I don't think it's a lesson I'm going to be learning anytime soon." For good measure, she punches Hope's other shoulder.

"Hey, if you guys don't quit it, I'm going to be needing a sling. TWO slings." Hope cries out mournfully.

"You'll need to toughen up, too. That'll be the hardest lesson for you, I think, if you stay true to who you were before..."

"That's enough, Fang. Birthday. Not the time." Light cuts in coolly from behind. The entourage kind of halts as Fang pivots on her good leg, surprisingly fast considering her condition.

Fang glances at Hope's confused expression, then raises her cane and sticks it in Light's face. "You mean you haven't told him yet?"

"Haven't told me what?" Hope asks, sidling closer to Light and outstretching his arms. "Easy, Fang."

"Yeah." Vanille pipes up, running and supporting Fang's weight by slipping under her other arm. "Don't get too worked up. It's okay." Snow walks up, looking uncomfortable.

Light turns, and folds her arms across her chest, staring up at the stars. "I just want to meet Hope's parents and enjoy his birthday. We've all waited too long for this. Especially Hope. This might be his last chance to enjoy the kind of life he's led, that we all worked so hard for him to have after all those years of torment. I felt like he's earned some peace, even if it is on borrowed time. Even if it is fake. This world was meant to be a place of new beginnings, and he deserves this. Even more than the rest of us. Let him have one last night, Fang. Let him be a kid one last time. God knows he never had a childhood in the last world. Think of how you would feel if Vanille never had those memories in Oerba to look back to, when times were bad. Hope had Palumpolum for only a little while, from before. Let him have New York in this place, this time."

That didn't sound good to Hope. Cringing, almost on the verge of tears, he looks up at Fang, who drops her cane and leans into Vanille, as if losing all momentum in that moment. "You're right. Kid needs to be a kid. Let's get to it. Don't mean to be a party crasher." She smiles haphazardly, and Snow and Light flank Hope down the path.

Why, just when the rose haired mystery woman of his dreams has shown up, does everything seem more confusing now than ever? No answers seem to be forthcoming. He looks up at Light, but she seems ready for his question.

"In the morning, when this is all over, we're going to have a long talk, you and I. I told you before that I showed up at the right time, at the right place. You'll just have to go on believing a little longer. You've waited all this time, right? What's one more night?" She walks ahead then, jogging up the rocky little path, leaving Hope alone with his thoughts and inner frustrations.

"Yeah." He mutters to the wind, hair ruffled by the sea breeze, "what's one more night?"

When he rounds the next bend, the next scene is almost too much to take in.

There are fireworks.

Hope Estheim has always loved fireworks, and he held a secret tradition in his heart to wish on them. It was silly, he understood from talking to other people. No one wished on fireworks-it just wasn't something that most people did. But to him it just seemed...right. They were one of the very few vivid memories that he clung to from his previous life.

He remembered that one night at the beachside with his mother as if it were yesterday, back on his home planet. The colors and bursts weren't like anything on this plane-there was a kaleidoscope of spectrum that night, and he was in the front and center of the show. Those were special fireworks, and all of his friends were there-he just hadn't known it then.

He had made no secret that fireworks were his favorite while he was growing up on this world-so of course they would be waiting to set them off for him when he showed up to his surprise birthday party.

"They" turned out to be Vanille and Fang, Snow and Light, his parents, and one other who hadn't met him on the shoreline path...

"Sazh!" Hope cries out, and pushes Snow out of the way. A man dressed in fighter fatigues can be seen tending the rockets and fireworks, coughing and brushing smoke out of his face. Squinting, the older man with a wiry tangle of hair rises from his knee, sputtering and waving.

"Hope! Is that you?" He cries out between gasps. The boy runs up to his old friend, a first time reunion, arms thrown wide. The two collide in laughter and memories, the elder man throwing the younger in a tight grip.

They weave back and forth for a few moments, the firework display on hold for a moment as the two boys throw punches and jabs, and Sazh ruffles Hope's natural silvery locks, so unusual for a man of his age on this world.

"So, uh...heard you like fireworks. I came to deliver!" Sazh scratches his ear, and brushes off his fatigues. "You came at the right time, I had to put Dajh to sleep, so...the timing was just right. Sorry he can't see you, he really wanted to wait up, but you know how boys are, the excitement just got to him, and he passed out cold."

Hope laughs, hands on his knees. He feels a way he hasn't felt before, ever, in the 18 years of his existence. For the first time, he feels...at one, home, at peace. Even living with his parents he hadn't ever felt truly all put together inside, and now the puzzle pieces have fit home. To his shock and embarrassment, a little tear trickles out of a corner of his eye, and he raises up from his bent over position of laughing to realize he is the center of a circle of shoulders and gazes. Every way he turns, there is another smiling face, a recognizable pair of eyes that he's waited so long to see. Sazh standing there with his fighter fatigues, Light with her guarded smile and rose hair, Snow with his brawn, tanned skin and sheepish grin, Vanille and Fang the matched duo of playful and protective.

"Thank you. All of you." There are still so many questions, so many feelings Hope needs to put into words, and a party with many more people still to introduce and reunite...but for right now, this encircling group of long lost friends brought together by sand and stars and sea are enough for the moment.

It was his birthday, the cusp of childhood to manhood, and the confluence of two worlds brought together under one manifold of heaven. Two lives had battled inside one body and one mind, but for now, Hope's soul is comforted. For tonight, at least, there was nothing left to do but celebrate and revel in a possibility for new memories to join the old.

For tonight.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hope. Happy birthday, my son." Bartholomew's affectionate, but firm, voice sounds behind the circle of friends, and the younger Mr. Estheim turns toward his father's voice.

"Dad..." So many words, so many questions, hang in the balance, as the group pivots to gaze on the Estheim couple behind them. Hope struggles a moment to find his words. _How did you get here? Do you remember these people, as I do? Why have you kept everything a secret? Are we safe now?_

Nothing comes out for a moment, and there is a stifled silence as Nora and Bartholomew smile slightly at their son, arms outstretched. Hope braces his hands on his knees, then straightens.

"I...thank you." Settling on how he wants to feel in this moment, Hope decides and smiles back, then surrenders to happiness as he gets swept up in the parental embrace.

"This is the day you become a man now, and we couldn't be happier." Bartholomew continues, and Nora laughs. Hope lifts his shaggy head to grin, green eyes gleaming, at the woman who has always been his mother, between this world and the last. He has known no other.

"Well, I think some introductions are underway." Bartholomew suggests, and Hope nods.

"Yeah. Dad..." There is a moment of awkwardness once more as Hope realizes he knows these people, but only from another world. They could be completely different people on this planet. And it isn't like they were exactly friends on a level Hope has understood previously, like the bonds he had developed with his classmates from school. He had never seen these people on this planet before only a moment ago. Maybe everything he knows is wrong. Before today, his memories hadn't been encouraged, and he had been guarded from communicating with most of the outside world by a very strict upbringing. Everyone had thought he was crazy the few times he had discussed memories of a past life with the school friends he did have. Now the door has been opened for Hope, in that his assumptions had always been correct-his parents are now asking for introductions to people that, before today, they would have asserted were total strangers.

Hope struggles beyond the pain and confusion and trusts his instincts-something he has always done, no matter the pressure to do the opposite. These people would always be his friends, and even though his memories aren't the strongest, and there are pieces that need to be fleshed out, they are the only people that have mattered. They were what has been real. The dreams meant something, and his waking moments were the illusion. He can't abandon the faces that have propelled him forward in his thoughts for years-they were are lifeline.

"These...are my friends. The people that I have been telling you about since I was young." Hope carefully chooses his tone so that he doesn't come across as hurt or vindictive from a life of suppression and denial. "They've come here to celebrate my birthday."

"Hope..."Bartholomew, educated and wise to his son's feelings, adjusts his glasses. "Well, that's a conversation for later. You've been right, son." He lays a hand on his boy's shoulder. "You do know these people, and so do I. It's your mother..." He turns to his wife, who steps up to Hope's side, and bows slightly.

"My name is Nora." The older woman smiles bravely. "Nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you all." She straightens, pointing at Snow. "You...I believe you look familiar from our past on Coccoon, but I don't believe we knew each other very well."

The most awkward silence of all commences then, as the group understands exactly why Nora can only vaguely recall Snow's face.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I...it was my fault." Snow steps up, and Hope gets a sinking feeling that he has lived this moment before. Snow pushes his palm into his other fist, and sort of makes a half bow. "I...it was my fault. You were killed, one of the victims of the Purge from Coccoon. I was the leader of the resistance front, along with a few of my friends here at the party tonight. But I was in charge. You..."

"Yes. I remember falling-and nothing else." Nora closes her eyes, lifting her chin to the sea. "Our family wasn't from Bodhum, like most of you were..."

"Not all of us came from the old Coccoon town of Bodhum." Fang cuts in then, shifting her feet and holding Vanille tighter. Vanille nods.

Nora looks around. Bartholomew's jaw is clenched, staring at nothing.

"Back on the old world, I made my apologies to your husband, when we all met briefly." Snow picks back up. "But you, of course...it was your death I was apologizing to your husband for. And...I also owed an apology to Hope."

A brief flicker of an old feeling surges through Hope, and he is surprised at his strong emotions. He remembers an intense feeling of hate toward this man, and realizes that he hadn't felt this way before when remembering Snow's face in his dreams up until this night. The angry emotion is quickly snuffed out by an intense feeling of camaraderie, and the young man stamps out any negative thought. _What's past is past,_ he thinks. _I will get my answers soon enough._ He now has an extra incentive to speak with Light soon. _She promised. Just keep your mouth shut a little longer. She promised she would help explain everything._

Nora steps out, hand extended. Everyone gasps, wondering what she will do next, and Snow bows his head, closing his eyes in expectation of any sort of physical response.

He receives a touch, but not the one he is braced for. Nora gently places her fingers on Snow's face, and he inhales sharply, eyelids fluttering open to see a benignly smiling face. "What's past is past, young man. This is a new start, a literal new world. It's been centuries, Bartholomew has told me, and another 18 years on top of that. I don't see any reason why the sins of the past should be reinstated in this new life. From what I hear, you've sacrificed your own life and happiness over and over so that I may be reunited again with my husband and my son now. Everyone here owes you a great debt, for without you, none of us would be here. So don't let my fall on Coccoon worry you. There is nothing to forgive." She steps back, and Snow staggers with relief, gasping.

"Hope, dear, introduce me to the saviors of this world."

Hope steps forward, coughing lightly. "Okay, you know Snow, but Mom...these are my oldest friends. Sazh is the one in the uniform, lighting the fireworks. Fang is the one with the cane, and Vanille is with her. And there is one savior who gave more than most. Mom, this is...this is Light. She showed me how to fight."

That last part sounded stupid, even to Hope's ears. Nora nods and smiles at each name Hope points out-Sazh waving, Fang raising her cane and Vanille sketching a silly little dance, but Light steps forward, quiet, aloof.

"It's an honor to meet you, ma'am." She touches her hand to her heart, and lowers her eyes.

"Light harvested the souls from the old world, from Gran Pulse and Cocoon, and brought them over to this one." A new voice chirps off to the side, and everyone turns their attention to the newcomer, the third woman with rose-colored hair hopping off a rock to land, fighter-style, into the ring of people.

Hope recognizes her, too. She is important. She is...

"Nora, this is my fiancee, Serah. She's also Light's little sister." Snow finds his words then, and reaches out to grab his bride-to-be's hand, helping her step over to them.

Hope can immediately see the resemblance between the mysterious Light who visited him at the beach lookout spot and this vivacious young girl who comes, grinning, into the circle. She is a more exuberant, younger version of Light.

"Sorry I took so long in getting over here. I was helping LeBreau cook some of the meat for the party." She giggles. "I can remember helping her over with the bar at New Bodhum, NORA operatives sure got hungry..."

"NORA?" Hope's mother asks, bewildered.

"Yeah. Crazy coincidence." Snow chuckles, rubbing the back of his head. "NORA was the acronym of the resistance I was in charge of, back in the old world. It just so happens to also be your name, ma'am."

"Anyway, this is Serah," Hope gestures. "There are...more...but right now, I'm starving. So, let's discuss this after we eat! Serah said something about food..." Taking the queue to get the group going and to get the party started, Hope looks at Light's sister, who can't keep her hands off of Snow.

"Oh! Right! Yes, the food! Yes, that I can definitely help with. We've got hamburgers and hotdogs, but don't get too full! There's a surprise dessert later..." Serah's voice trails off as she leads everyone up the hill, with everyone exclaiming their hunger and excitement in little groups here and there.

Hope finds himself with Sazh. "Hey, who told you I liked fireworks?" Hope asks him, now that they are alone.

Sazh has always been the eldest of the group, the widowed father, but for all his complaining of aches and pains, he never had a problem keeping up with the rest of the younger group of time-traveling heroes. His quiet wisdom attracts Hope right now, who can't quite join in the vivaciousness that some of his friends are exhibiting. There is simply too much happening at once.

"No one really told me. I just thought it would be fitting. Fireworks were how we all met on Coccoon back in the old world, in Bodhum City. So...since it's your birthday, and it's a celebration, why not fireworks?" He shrugs, then chuckles. "By the way, young man, congrats on your 18th. I'll try to make it a good show. Nothing like Nautilus would have put on, but I'll do my best..."

"Nautilus?" Hope's mind races, but other than sounding familiar, he can't put a memory to that name.

"Yeah, Nautilus. The theme park back on Coccoon that did those light parades showcasing the town's history. Oh, that's right. You were from Palumpolum, and were only visiting Bodhum with your mom on the night we all met...maybe you had never been to Nautilus while you lived back on the old world? I mean, you were just a kid. 14 is pretty young, when we all saved the world."

"Yeah, that must be it." Hope quickly, gratefully, accepts Sazh's explanation, and then excuses himself to run up with the others, begging hunger.

_Whew, that was close._ For some reason, Hope doesn't want to reveal to the others his obviously patchy memory of what happened before he was born again in this world. It seems like Light is the only one aware of Hope's true status as far as how random his memories are, and for now, he is more comfortable keeping it that way. He doesn't want pity from the others. _Light promised an explanation._ He could be content with that knowledge while he just simply..._enjoyed_ being with the others tonight, basking in their energy.

The food really is delicious. Lebreau proves she is an excellent cook, and though Hope didn't feel hunger before, he ends up going back for seconds and thirds. Something about the salty sea air, perhaps.

There are a lot more introductions to get underway. His father had met almost everyone from before, but not quite. The rest of the group that Snow had led, called NORA, is there. Lebreau was part of the team, but so were Yuj, and Maqui, and Gadot. Snow took the honors, a beaming Serah by his side, to make sure everyone was acquainted. The actual person named Nora, Hope's mother and Bartholomew's wife, had to get to know everyone.

There are more people here, of course. No one from Hope's manufactured life on this planet is in attendance. This is a meeting of older friends. As the night goes on, Hope realizes there are a lot of military-types in the crowd. Two older men stand apart from everyone else. He remembers the younger, more commanding presence as Cid Raines. His friend close by him is a most peculiar man named Rygdea. They both look strapped to the hilt with ammo and military arms, and more than being affronted that fully armed men are here for his birthday celebration, Hope finds himself more curious than angry at what these men are all about. He speaks with them only briefly. Cid is absolutely no fun whatsoever, and he receives mixed emotions about the man, with differing feelings of kinship, sadness, and anger. Rydea is much more charming, and slightly humorous, but his Western twang feels out of sorts with the adopted New York accents everyone around him has picked up through living on the East Coast of the US in this reincarnation.

To Hope's surprise, his parents seem the most at ease around Cid and Rydea, and after inquiring, he learns that they are the two that collected them earlier to meet Hope at this surprise beach location. _Ah, so those two military types are how my parents got here. That explains it. I was wondering how they could possibly have gotten here without being introduced to most of my friends already._ Cid and Rydea had met with Light earlier and agreed that they would pay a visit to the Estheim residence and gather everyone to the beach. It just turned out that Hope had been waiting at his usual spot for Light as he had for years, not knowing exactly the date and time she would come. When Cid and Rydea found out the birthday boy wasn't at home, Light decided on her own to go searching. Of course after so many years of visiting the same spot, Bartholomew and Nora knew where their son would be waiting, and gave Light instructions on where Hope could be found. Light took off on her motorbike, and a few minutes later, Hope's dream had literally come true, with Light alone walking down that sandy beach path to lead Hope to the party.

It isn't long that Hope realizes he is the only person out of everyone in attendance who remembers everyone from the old world. Everyone has differing levels of connection with various groups of people, except for the young boy. There were several adventures that took place on Cocoon and Pulse, and Hope was the only one who got to guide all of the crucial players of the last world's downfall. Tonight was not only a celebration, but a meeting, a beginning...and an end. So many things are going on at once.

The biggest, and happiest, and most welcome, surprise of all was the arrival of a late couple. Late, but nonetheless welcome to the festivities.

"Sorry we're late." A young man and woman with striking purple hair arrive on the scene about an hour or two after all the introductions had been made people had made their way over to the grill or buffet station more than once.

Happily surprised, faces look up from plates and conversation to espy...

"Noel! Yeul!" Hope laughs, almost knocking over his BBQ in a desperate bid to be the first to welcome this pair. Light smiles at the serious looking young man, and the shy, quiet girl by his side.

"I was thinking that I was missing someone! Well, two someones." Hope runs over, but Serah knocks him out of the way.

"Noel! Yeul!" She repeats Hope's earlier cry and beats Hope to the duo, racing over and throwing both arms around them. Hope catches up only a second later and almost bowls everyone over with a huge embrace, catching the group off-balance and sending everyone careening.

"Don't worry, you're right on time." Serah giggles, and Hope mimics her laughter as they pull back, surveying smiles and faces.

"Happy birthday, Hope." Yeul states, her slate grey eyes faintly twinkling as Noel lays a hand on Hope's shoulder.

"Glad to see you again, partner." Hope remembers these two as being instrumental to the fall of their old world, and a feeling of love spanning through eons, timeless and binding, is shared between Noel and Yeul.

Hope remembers being older on the previous world than he is now, and closes his eyes momentarily as a memory slams into him from before.

_He was...an adult fully grown for many years. He was...important? No, not what he would consider a president on this world. But a leader nonetheless. Noel was searching for his Yeul across the eons, and Hope had a way to travel through time. Serah was also with Noel, helping him look for Yeul. She was searching for someone, too. SNOW. Serah and Snow were separated, as were Noel and Yeul, _

_Hope was searching for someone that he lost as well. They were united, these three, in their search for someone special. Noel, Serah, and Hope. _

_Who was Hope looking for? _Hope opens his eyes, smiles at his long-lost friends, but his heart gives a lurch as he shakes hands and extends greetings. Yeul is almost unknown to everyone here, and Hope, as the guest of honor, makes introductions.

_Yeul appears almost as mysterious as Light. She was...important, too. Like me, but my polar opposite. _There is no hostility toward her as he leads Yeul in the crook of his elbow throughout the crowd, making introductions and explaining that she helped make Light's return possible...

_Magic. That's what she had in the old world. Like ours, but different. A priestess, no, that isn't right. Seeress. That's her. She could see into the future. She could travel through time._

Who had Hope been looking for? He remembers the feeling more than the memory, of a yearning.

_His mother._ He wanted to change the past so he could prevent Nora from dying, from falling that day when Snow was the leader of the rebellion with her name, and she slipped through his fingers.

_No hard feelings. We are together now._ But there was someone else he was trying to bring back through the sands of time on his old world, other than his mother.

He is in the middle of the pine-planked beach cabin, wending his way through a string of tiki lamps and novelty big-bulbed Christmas lights when he espies one of the three heads of rose coloring in the room.

_Her. The rose-haired phantom. _A flash of blue eyes and a puff of smoke. _He had been searching for Light. He yearned to see her, as he yearned for his mother._ He is surprised at the almost physical sensation of dawning recognition slam into his chest with the _rightness_ of this fact. He feels like he has spent lifetimes waiting to see her again.

_I guess that I have. 18 years on this planet, and most of my life on the old._

This is the life that Hope has lived until now. Dueling memories of rose hair, and hair of every other shade, until now. Soon will come the time of reckoning and remembrance, but not quite yet. Let the revelry commence, and on the morrow, with the coming of the sun, will also come the comeuppance and discussion.

No detail had been spared to make this night perfect. Hope learns that this area is a military zone, and that explains the signs he had seen driving up to this spot on the back of Light's motorbike. Most of his friends are part of the Armed Forces in this world, so they had placed the signs and cordoned off the area for the past two weeks just to make this military base the spot for Hope's birthday celebration. He had driven by the signs every day and hadn't known what had been taking place under his nose. It also explains the secrecy, and that Light had to swipe her government I.D. to get past an invisible electric fence to drive down here.

The theme was the old Bodhum where they had met. A bar had been set up to look identical to the one that NORA had staffed back on the world. The small base was restructured to give the feeling of Bodhum-from pine wood flooring and walls, funky throw rugs and low sling-backed furniture, to tiki furnishings and novelty lighting.

Everything is perfect. Once the drinks have been flowing for a while, and most of the food that LeBreau cooked and hand-picked to make for everyone has been eaten, Sazh announces that the final surprise is ready. Everyone gathers to the covered front porch, and hunkers down to watch the fireworks.

Word is that Sazh has been in charge of gathering the right size, amount, and style of fireworks to make them the spotlight of the party. He had spent weeks getting everything just right, and had been bragging throughout the eating about how wonderful they were going to be.

He wasn't joking. Hope sits on a bench, hugging his knee to his chest. Warm feelings and half-remembered thoughts invade his chest and head. Everyone around him that was there on Bodhum that night recollects perfectly the firework show then, and the moment is extra special for Snow and Serah. Nora finally gets her wish of having Bartholomew with her to see the spectacle.

The area is cordoned off and under surveillance, so the gang have space and peace. The sky is theirs, with a half-moon hanging low, a company of spangling stars stretching out, and water on the rocks as far as the eye can see, stretching out to the horizon.

After the last pop has sounded, Hope is jolted back to reality with a "SURPRISE!" Jumping off his seat, he sees all of his friends, hands thrown wide. They step back to reveal the icing on the cake-literally. 18 sparkling candles nestle atop a creamy green-and-yellow tiered cake, covered with stars.

"Make a wish, son." Nora smiles down at her son, and Hope laughs, stepping to the cake. His wish is made privately, in the event that the superstition will make it come true.

He inhales, closing his eyes. Exhaling, all he can see in his line of sight is a glimmer of candlelight off rose-colored hair across the cake from him before he extinguishes all his birthday candles in a single gust of breath. Then, darkness and phantom wisps of smoke as clapping, shouting, and an encore of fireworks sound all around him.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Hope feels like someone in a dream.

_What happened? There were fireworks-my birthday?-old friends..._

For a brief moment, it seems as if his 18th birthday happened to someone else, in a story he once read, long ago. As he swings his legs heavily over the bedside, the angst and rebellious attitude is snug to fit in to. _My past was real. My parents are wrong. They know the answers, and they aren't helping me._

One note on his bedside nightstand washes the bitterness away. Blurry eyes discern a folded piece of paper on the otherwise utilitarian smooth surface. Trying to focus on the item out of place, Hope rubs grime from the corner of his eye and looks to the cramped, scrawled handwriting.

_Meet me at our place. -Light_

Hope's stomach drops. He can't breathe.

All he can think is one thing:_ Today is the day of reckoning._

With a loud **WHOOP**!, the boy jumps up, raising the note high into the air in a fist. He can't get to the beach fast enough.

Someone remembered Hope's car had been parked on a beach embankment last night, and had brought it back home for him. Probably one of his parents, assuming that they had all left to go to his party in the same vehicle with Rydea. He had given them a spare key to his car, just in case, long ago.

Fortunately, the Dodge Nitro was parked exactly in the same space where it should be, saving time and trouble. "Thank you," Hope murmurs hurriedly to the cosmos, thankful that his morning can start easier now that he doesn't have to go searching for a possibly impounded vehicle.

The front driver's door is unlocked, and his key ring is lying on his seat. Here lies the second note of the morning. _Have a good day. -Mom_

Oh, he plans on having a great one.

With the help of a little EDM to help speed him on his way to the beachside, he makes it to the beach ramp that is so familiar to him these past three years. He doesn't remember the drive in all the excitement, but as he pulls up next to an impressive tricked out Hyundai, Hope does glance at the dash for the time before shutting off the ignition-10:02.

Pounding waves assail him as he pops open his door and steps out, mountain boots _thudding_ as they hit the gravel. The little ramp is on a shoulder right next to the two-lane beach road, and cars shoot by as he jingles his keys into his pocket and makes his way round the front of the car.

"You look like someone right out of a Folgers commercial." The most familiar voice in the world, one that he hadn't heard for eighteen years until last night, calls out playfully from the split-log rail in front of him.

Hope pauses for a moment mid-stride, just letting the surreal moment sink in. The sun is half-risen over the waves, limning the water in frothy white. Against the sounds of the ocean and gulls crying, and the traffic intermittently going by behind him, is the sound of the person he has missed more than all of the others combined.

The mid-morning sun also hits Light's unusual hair, one side longer than the other, falling in waves over her left shoulder. She's dressed in civ clothes today, in a collared white tank top and cut-off jean shorts, frayed edges and all. She's wearing boots too, black scuffy things laced all the way up to her knee. Her back is to him, and as he rounds the front of his SUV, he can see the light playing off face of her face, lining her profile. Her hands are folded across her chest, and she has one knee up, resting against the parking rail that abuts the parking lot ramp.

"H-how long have you been waiting here?" Hope asks, making his way to her side and leaning next to her on the rail.

"I don't know. What time is it?" She asks, turning her head and smirking ever so slightly.

Hope looks at the underside of his wrist to his watchface. "Almost 11."

Light shrugs, turning back toward the tide. "I've been here long enough."

Her vagueness is slightly irritating. Hope frowns, brows drawing down into a severe V. "Well, I guess today's the day. Today's the day you reveal where the hell all of you have been for the past 18 years, and decided to just suddenly show up. Today is the day where I'm no longer regarded as a basket case."

"If your parents really thought that you had been missing a few screws, you would have gotten counseling, and would have been on meds since the time you were a child." Light remarks.

Hope tugs on his flannel. "That's NOT an answer!" He rounds on her, the comfortable anger eagerly awaiting him just buried under the surface of his control.

Light is unprovoked at the shoulder-heaving youth by her side, and just calmly switches from foot to foot, propping her other knee on the rail behind her.

"You're right. It isn't. But I am here to keep my promise. Against my better judgement, but a promise is a promise."

" 'Against your better judgement?' Just what the HELL is that supposed to mean?" Hope exclaims, then furrows a hand through his unkempt bedridden hair. He didn't even shower, he was so anxious to finally receive answers. He had just barely thrown some clothes on, and he was out the garage door.

"Only this." Light is somehow dangerously close to him, too close, and Hope takes a half step back, hands coming up. Light pauses, sees the defensive posture, looks...sad?...and then backs off slightly.

"Did you listen to anything Fang and I were discussing last night? About how I wanted to you to have a good childhood for at least once in your two lives? Today it ends. That's not how I would want it. I wanted...to protect you." Her hands clench up at her sides, upper arms vibrating with tension. "If it were up to me, you would continue on your normal life. Even if you had to go on believing you were crazy your entire life...even if we could never officially meet..."

"How is that supposed to be friendly, again? I'm confused. That sounds awful. I would be living a lie and probably go crazy with my memories to boot. I'm glad to be finally getting the truth. I'll deal with it, whatever it is." Hope looks out to sea, sighs, and leans back on the rail himself, shoulders slumping. "I'm ready to be an adult."

There is nothing but the sounds of the wind and waves for a beat, then Light says quietly, "That sounds like something you'd say. We had a vote. All of us."

"A-a vote?" Hope repeats, dumbfounded. "About what?"

"About you. A long time ago. I was the only one in favor of letting you live your life without our interference, or to give you an insight into Bhuinvelze's presence entering this life again..."

_Bhunivelze. _Just the name sends shivers through Hope's spine, and his mind flashes through a cascade of pictures, as if someone had just opened up a graphic novel in front of him, and flipped through all of the glossy prints in rapid succession. It's a name associated with absolute horror and darkness. Unbeknownst to Hope, a single tear forms from one eye and trickles down the side of his face. With trepidation, he whispers, "Bhunivelze?"

Light is talking, but he can't hear. He grips his arms tighter, fingerless gloves squeezing until the knuckles turn white.

"HOPE ESTHEIM! HOPE!" Light is screaming, but the words only vaguely connect, and it isn't until she starts shaking him that he slowly comes to, shaking his head slowly back and forth.

Everything is a blur, and the intensity with which hearing and seeing come back to Hope is almost earth-shattering. Suddenly, the crashes of the beachside come roaring back to life, and Hope focuses on blue eyes worriedly staring into his.

"Are you okay?" Light asks breathlessly, slightly crouching so that she is at level with him. He nods, gulping air.

"Yeah, just...just give me a minute." He walks to the nearest rock, leaning one hand heavily on its surface. Light gives her old comrade some air, as he grips his knee and regains focus.

"Bhunivelze, my old enemy. So much pain..." A spasm jerks through his back, and he cries out, whipping his torso straight and grabbing his back with phantom surges of pain.

"Hope!" Light comes over to his side, gently placing her hand over his. "Hope, do you need to see a doctor? I can drive your car and take you to the hospital, there's one nearby..."

"No. No...I guess you're right. I guess it's a good thing that I can only remember bits and pieces of the past. If a lot of time went by where I was feeling like this, no wonder I came into this world trying to block it out."

"He, he was my enemy too. I remember some of the pain you've been living your whole life trying to forget." Her words are soft now, careful. "That's one of the reasons I didn't want to tell you. They say that the truth hurts...in your case, that's more fitting than anyone could ever know."

"You're still right to tell me, though. I want to remember. If...you say he's coming back?" Hope asks, more tears forming, but blinking furiously to repress them.

"We've had...reports. A lot of us from the old world chose to go into the military in this life for a reason. This way, if there was any...unexplained unusual activity that threatened the world, we would be the first to be declassified. We would be the first line of defense. I guess old habits die hard. We were protectors before, it was so easy for us to fit into those same roles when we crossed over."

"What do you mean, 'unexplained unusual activity?'" Hope can breathe a bit easier now, thanks to the big lungfuls of sea air, and stands up straighter, wiping his palms on the back of his faded blue jeans.

Light bows her head. "I'm sure you've heard the stories growing up. Strange things coming from the sky that no one can explain. Unidentified activity, like...they call them UFO's or strange sightings or unexplained phenomena here. All of that is simply ridiculous, of course. Most of what you have heard is simply that...lunatic rantings and ravings. But there are some...some that elude what can possibly be. Those are the things we are worried about. Those are the things we are investigating, so see if there are any stirrings from the beyond."

Hope laughs. "You mean those old tales I heard when I was a child? You can't be serious, Light. Bhunivelze..." Here he shivers at saying the name aloud, "is gone. Vanished. A relic of the past. He can't touch us here. We're safe. That was the point of coming here, right? To escape..." As he speaks, long-forgotten occurrences dredge up from beneath, like ghosts from an undersea lake. "Yeah. That's what happened. I sort of remember now." He lays his fingertips on the rock, tracing a pattern in the cracks. "That...feels right. Banishing an old presence...conquering an old enemy by refusing his presence and moving to another place."

"And you don't remember all of it, then." Light furrows her brows, trying to control her anger being roused at having been told her choice of profession, beliefs, and the things she had experienced since living in this new reincarnation are ridiculous. "Hope, I can't expect you to understand right now." She exhales, trying to reach her calm. "It's a lot to take in. Yesterday you thought I was just a possible myth. Now I'm here, now you've become an adult, and now I'm telling you today that the things that go bump in the night have the possibility of being responses from an old enemy trying to reach us from the other side."

Hope has lived his entire life in this plane with one method of realism, with one method of thinking. He has been at war with his private thoughts for so long, he hadn't known what was real. It seems as though hearing what is actually occurring doesn't help matters much. He is the literal juxtaposition of worlds, and one part of his Earth-reared brain refuses to accept that anything other than his American bred life is out there. The other half; the older, repressed half, is slowly nodding silent agreement with what Light is saying.

There can't be any peace, Hope realizes now. He had wished for the truth, and upon hearing it, it is not the balm to soothe his aches that he always wanted. Instead, he finds the same split inside tearing him in two.

"You're right, Light. It's not even noon and you telling me about the fact that there is an old, vengeful god from our home planet still out there is a bit much for me to digest right now."

"He will always be out there. We knew that when we banished him, and ourselves. We will never be rid of him. I know my place, and so do the others. The war will never stop. But it is a burden we will gladly take up to protect everyone else. We are the only ones who know, who remember. Those that were integral to helping send Bhunivelze back into the chaos still cling to the knowledge of what happened, of why this world came into being, of why we are here. Everyone else leads a blissful, ignorant life." She turns back to the sun, placing a gentle hand on Hope's shoulder. "We must make sure that everyone else sleeps. We don't want the people to wake up. They are the ones encased in crystal now, Hope. We are the silent guardians, protecting, ever watchful, over their slumber. I had wanted peace, so at first, I rebelled against my fate." She clenches her hand to her chest, bowing her head. "I came, WE came, to this world to sleep, too. I didn't want to stay awake, scanning the horizon for trouble, anymore. I wanted to lay down my arms. But now I know that's just the price we paid. I think it's worth it. For now, we bought some time. It's enough to know that if he ever comes back, we can defeat him again. We always will. What has been before, shall pass again. Over and over. We are on one side, he is on the other..."

"Enough." Hope pushes her away, slightly, and Light inhales as Hope walks off a few paces, back turned. "I said I couldn't take any more. Why do you keep on? Just...just give me a moment. This is all too much to take in. I didn't ask for any of this. I don't want this..."

Light sighed. "That's what I told them. That's what Fang and I were talking about. You're right to feel this way. This is how I felt, too. You, of all of us, deserved the most peace. You could maybe sleep, because of your memories and how you came into this world still a baby, innocent."

"I SAID **STOP**!"Hope cries out, whirling on his friend. He gets what he asks for, for Light, upon seeing the green eyes flashing, closes her lips and exhales deeply through her nostrils.

There is a tense pause, Hope's chest heaving.

"I-I'm sorry...I know there's nothing you can do. You have no choice. I get that. I just need...a little more time." The boy says, scratching his arm.

"Understood, soldier." Light smiles, and for a moment, she is taken aback by the fact that instead of having to bend down to look into Hope's gaze, she has to tilt her chin up. _He's grown, _she thinks. Then she snaps herself out of her reverie. That's silly. Of course he has. He just turned eighteen. He probably isn't done growing up, either.

Light thinks for a moment, not wanting this meeting to end like this, wanting to part on a good note.

"Hey...seeing as how you told me earlier you'd just woken up...you wanna grab breakfast?" The warrior woman asks, cheeks faintly blushing, trying to change the subject. The kid had a lot to take in on an empty stomach, and she had wanted to break it to him gently. It definitely hadn't turned out as she had planned, so she fell back to what soldiers focused on in the field when things went wrong-their next meal.

Hope places a hand lightly on his flat stomach, grinning wryly. "Now that you mention it...yeah. Food sounds great."

Happy that now they are on a more friendly footing, Light grins. "Great. I'll drive."

"Nuh-uh."Hope shakes his shaggy head, holding his other palm up. "Not while I have the keys."

"For now." Light feints a quick grab at the jingling ring that Hope produces from his pocket, but Hope snatches the keys away before Light can make the catch.

"I rode with you last night. Now it's your turn. I'll let you chose the place. Let's go."

Light sighs, tossing a spiky lock out of her vision. "At least you haven't lost any of your stubbornness."

Hope guffaws as they turn toward the Nitro, and almost loses his balance as he plants his feet on the soft gravelly soil. "ME? Stubborn? Coming from YOU? Now that's rich!"

Light just huffs, but Hope catches the barest whisper of a smile that touches her lips before she rounds the front of the vehicle and the top of the Nitro shields the lower half of her face.

With a loud CHIRP! The alarm disengages and the two pile in, slamming their doors in succession.

Hope slides his fingerless gloves over the top of the wheel after he switches on the ignition, letting his trusted baby for the past two years hum to life. "So," he sighs, easing back into his seat with a practiced adolescent lounge and glancing at the beach road behind them in the side mirror. "Where you wanna go?"

"This isn't a date." Light blurts out before she can think, and immediately regrets her timing and words. She can feel the blush creeping up her neck. She closes her eyes and bows her head, refusing to look at her old partner.

To her embarrassment and anger, Hope starts laughing. Startled, she opens her eyes and whips her head to look at him, the sunlight bouncing off his hair as he chortles.

"Sorry...I'm not laughing at you." He makes out in between fits of laughter, holding up his hands in defense at seeing the smolder behind her expression. "I...ah...never said this was a date. I'm just taking you out to breakfast, letting you choose the location. It's a meeting between old friends. Yeah." The more he talks, the more Hope realizes that he's not helping the situation. What he's describing sounds EXACTLY like a date. This is frustrating. If Light were a guy, none of this would be happening. But now that she's broken the ice, the fact that Hope is an adult now and they are of a differing sex throws the sitch into startling clarity. He decides to stop talking, letting his sentence end and just choosing not to let it continue. Instead, he clears his throat. Which, in the silence of the car, is even more unsettling and awkward.

"IHOP is fine." Light provides, just thinking of the nearest and most commercially breakfast oriented restaurant in order to get them on the road and maybe start talking about something else. _How did this happen?_ One minute she was discussing the events of the past eighteen years-albeit reluctantly-with her old comrade, and the next they are having a most awkward silence when the subject of dating gets thrown around.

_And it's all my fault. I really made a spectacle of myself. Way to go, Light._ Hope is backing out onto the roadway, and she twists her fingers in her lap. _Why did I mention that this isn't a date? _Of course it isn't, that's not what she wanted. Hell, she didn't even want to be having this conversation in the first place. If it wasn't for her respect for the idea of a democratic vote between their old group, and the fact that she and Hope had the best camaraderie out of all of them, she wouldn't even be in this position as diplomatic negotiator. This breakfast meeting wouldn't have at all had the same undertones if Sazh or Snow were the ones who seemed the most likely to meet up with Hope the first day after he turned eighteen.

The compromise was that Hope should, indeed, have his childhood here, but the jig would be up after eighteen years. Then the cold hard shock of reality would be made apparent to him.

And just _**WHO**_ was decided to be the herald of doom? HER. It was always Light. Even in this new world, it seems she can't escape the pressure of being the catalyst to bring change. That had been her old job description. She can't escape fate, even in another reincarnation.

They've made it out on the road.

"So, wanna listen to some music?" Hope suggests, and Light lifts her chin incrementally. She still can't look at him for some reason yet. Nor can she speak. She fears that if she does, something equally disturbing will blurt out as it did before.

Hope seems casual enough as he changes the dial on his dash to the local rock station. _Commercial._ He dims the audio out of reflex and the asinine jingles and incessant chatter recede slightly as they drive along.

Light shifts her gaze to Hope's steady fingertips as they hug the wheel, his effortless movements. _He doesn't seem perturbed._ This is good. There are a lot more important things that they need to be worried about. In fact, the only time Hope seemed to lose his cool so far this morning is when she brought up the thought of Bhunivelze still being around, or at least looking to come back into this world. Of course that would disturb anyone who remembered how things were back on Gran Pulse.

She shivers, unable to control the thought of doom.

"Oh, are you cold? You should have said so, I can change the heat..."

"No, I'm fine." Light's cold, clipped words come out as completely bitchy, and she winces inwardly to hear her own voice. Hope says nothing, and smartly decides to focus once more on the road, allowing the subject to die.

**WHO** is the one acting like a teenager? _This is ridiculous._ There were plenty of times her and Hope had been alone, adventured alone, back on their home planet. In fact, this reason was why she seemed the most likely candidate to drop the bomb on Hope's earth life out of all of them.

_Of course, he was only fourteen in that time. Well, at first. Well, and then there was that time, when he was sleeping and I had first watch, that he confused me for his mom, Nora. That was awkward, too. _But the kid had been sleeping. He hadn't known he had called out to her as "Mom," back then, and she never told him that he did that. He was young, and there was no time to discuss silly things like that. Besides, it was only once. He grew up emotionally on the road they traveled together.

_Now he's grown up, literally_. Argh, she'd already noticed that! Shaking her head angrily, she forces herself to snap out of her reverie and focus on the mission at hand. She had always been good at that.

"We're here. IHOP sounds good. I'm hungry." Hope is saying, and as Light snaps out of it, she realizes he's right. They're pulling into a parking space right directly in front of the dining room windows. Hope throws it in park and shuts of the engine, playfully tossing the keys and then snatching them out of the air as he pulls them out of the ignition.

"Wanna grab that bite?"

_Still a kid at heart, though._ Light smiles at Hope, then nods once. "Yeah, let's get some grub. I'm starving."


	5. Chapter 5

It's over the space of the next few weeks that things start to make sense to Hope, that all of the stories get to be fleshed out.

After that meal at IHOP with Light where very little was said, and the two refused to make eye contact, she told him on their way back to the beach lookout point that if he wanted to learn more he could take it up with the others. That wounded Hope, and after the anticlimatic meal with too many calories and way too many sugars and carbs he felt flat, dejected. Upon pressing the matter further, she folded her hands while seated in the passenger seat, looked out the window, and muttered something about "it's out of my hands now" and "they can take up the rest." By '_they_' Hope understood that Light was referring to the rest of the core group that brought down Bhunivelze's destruction on the old world.

With a clipped goodbye, she is off again on her motorbike, leaving Hope at the beach, alone again. He had received an answer, of a sort, so technically it isn't like Light is backing out of her promise to reveal anything. She did let him know about the tension, and why her and Fang were so heated at his birthday celebration. Now he had the truth. Everything else, from here going forward, he knew, would be speculation and rumor. The old gang understood that Bhunivelze was making strides to come back into this new world and wreak destruction as he had done before-but other than that, no one knew much more. The truth had sprung up more questions than it had answered.

Now that Hope is an adult, the path is set before him. He has to make decisions now based on the knowledge that he learned, and how he wants to go about dealing with it. Should he continue on this Earth-based life, and discard what his friends are doing? Did he want to 'sleep', as Light had referred to it?

Hope sits on the beach after Light leaves, taking a good amount of time for himself to think. He knows that the moment he gets back into his car and leaves the parking lot, he would literally have to decide where to turn, where the rest of his life should go from there. Now that he is no longer innocent to the goings on of his friends, he has to choose whether or not to take an active part in what they are doing.

He still doesn't want to believe that the things that go bump in the night are attributed to some unseen ancient force from another world. His logical brain raised in the current climate of this world can't accept that things like superstition and anything other than cold hard fact could be real. It sounds preposterous, what Light had said, silly.

And then there is the fear. Hope doesn't really want to open that can of worms, those repressed feelings of torment. Whenever he focuses on Bhunivelze, the young man shudders and tamps down uneasy feelings as fast as he can. If he commits to being on the side of opposition, to join the fight for truth and answers with his friends, he can no longer ignore his trace remembrances of pain and suffering. He would have to give in to the pain, to know that it can come back for him again, that he can never really be free.

As the waves crash on the rocks beneath him, and Hope focuses on the pressing matters at hand, he realizes that no matter how he chooses, he can't live in a juxtaposition anymore. The tearing of two worlds is now too great of a burden to carry, after the events of the past few days. And even though the lines of communication are now open between him and his friends and parents, and he has the relief that he isn't alone or crazy, he still has to make his choice of how he wants to stand. Knowing that he will be supported, no matter what direction he chooses, is a balm to soothe him, but he still has to carry the burden of choice nonetheless.

After a while, and after the feeling of warmth from the sun has shifted to different sides of Hope's face on that beach rock, he realizes he doesn't have much of a choice. He can't continue living a lie, and was never really happy living the simply Earthly existence he did have through his past.

_I will never be able to stop fighting_. Hope realizes the true importance of Light's words. The meaning of what Light was saying becomes clearer to him as he ponders. _There's no way out. Once I commit myself, this is it. Until I die. I will have to re-take my old role as the God's sworn enemy. I won't be able to cower from my fear. All of my dreams have the ability to become more realistic, and it will only get harder._

"They always said the path of truth was never easy." Hope states aloud, as the sun sets on the shore. Before she left without saying goodbye, Light had scrawled her cell to Hope, telling him that if he was ready to join their special team, all he had to do was call. Then she had turned, revved her engine, and sped away, leaving Hope on the promontory with nothing but her number and the blowing wind.

With a steady hand, frightened but determined, the young man pulls out his own cell. Punching the numbers, he inputs the digits, crumpling the piece of paper in his other the hand.

There is a pickup on the third ring, but no one answers.

Hope understands. Two words is all he says, then hangs up.

"I'm in."

The next day, a recruiter from a military university Hope had never applied to before shows up at his home, knocking on the Estheim's front door.

"Hi, I'm a recruiter for the United States Military Academy." A young, chipper girl announces on the front stoop on that blustery day, a ream of papers in her hand. She adjusts narrow spectacles and looks to her paperwork. "I'm looking for a Mr. Hope Estheim?"

"Right this way," Nora wipes her hands on a towel she is holding to dry dishes, and the young girl steps in the entryway. She whistles rudely as the door is closing.

"Nice place." The girl smiles cheekily. Nora frowns, knowing full well all of the colleges that Hope had applied for-she helped him with his applications every step of the way. She knows that her son showed no interest in signing up with the military. An enthusiastic scout showing up at her home is a nice surprise, but a suspicious one at that. Hope wasn't exactly an athletic superstar, or showed any aptitude the military would be overly fond of.

"Thank you, young lady. I'm afraid you have the family at a disadvantage. I'm Hope's mother, Nora..."

"It's an honor to finally meet...er, I mean...to meet you, Mrs. Estheim!" The girl cuts Nora off excitedly, grabbing her hand and pumping it in a most unladylike fashion. "I'm Alyssa. Alyssa Zedielle. I'm a recruiter for West Point."

Nora purses her lips, but she can't hide the fraction of a gleam in her eye. She had heard of West Point, alright. Prestigious and infamous at the same time, she is both honored and doubly wary of their interest with her son. Her curiosity of how Hope's name has gotten placed in their selective hat trumps her offense at the girl's brusque nature, so for now, the woman retains the facade of gracious and kind hostess as she gets Ms. Zeidelle comfortable in the den. Promising to fetch her son, she excuses herself and knocks on Hope's door, where there is blaring music coming forth.

"Hope...hey, there's someone here to see you..."

The woman barely gets the sentence out before the door opens a crack and her wild-eyed child pokes his head out, hair bouncing everywhere, wild-eyed.

"Light?" The boy asks, a little too expectantly for the naturally protective mother's hearing. She marks the question down as a discussion to be had with her son later, and clears her throat.

"No, not Ms. Farron," Nora states formally, "put another young lady. A talent scout, she claims, from the United States Military Academy." She frowns. "Did you apply there, Hope?"

Hope is baffled, opening the door fully and scratching his head. More of the upbeat music streams out. "No, I don't remember...I don't think so..." He blinks, looking up at his mother. "Why would the military want me?"

"You had a recommendation." The young woman pipes up from down the hall. Both mother and son look incredulously at the impetuous girl for following Nora upstairs and eavesdropping on the family conversation.

Not knowing how else to proceed, and dispensing with all pretense of formality, Hope is the first to break the shocked silence as the girl makes her way down the hall.

"Recommendation? From who?" The boy shouts to be heard over the music, and to project his voice to the stairs, where the woman is turning from the stairwell.

"Classified." To increase dramatic effect, the lady takes her time, seeming to enjoy the two pairs of eyes watching her as she sways down the dimly lit corridor. "And I think the phrase is, 'from whom,' not 'from who.'"

The slightly mocking eyes turn up to Hope playfully, full of childish amusement. As she comes into the square of light and music streaming from Hope's open doorway, recognition and excitement burst forth from the confused young man.

"Alyssa! I remember you!" He cries out to his long-lost comrade, forgetting all of the old memories of uncomfortability and uneasiness that immediately spring from recognition, and coming forward to grab the girl in one-armed grip. Catching the talent scout off-guard, she cries out and drops her paperwork, pages fluttering down the hall, and feels knuckles grinding on top of her skull from the laughing eighteen year old man.

"Still catching you off-guard. You need to work on your skills. Especially if you're representing West Point now."

Wriggling, and gasping for air, Alyssa sputters something unintelligible in the crook of Hope's inner elbow, until he finally pushes her away, coughing and choking.

When she finally catches her breath, rubbing her head from the noogie, she finds she's too late to stop Hope from looking through her paperwork, which had scattered all over the floor.

"Hey! Those are mine! Stop that! That's classified!" The young woman cries out feebly, reaching out her arm for her things, which Hope is holding just out of her reach, scanning the words quickly above his head.

"'Morose, angsty...needs to work on his physique and people skills?'" Hope recites from the few words in bold that he can see. He snorts, Alyssa squirms, and Nora stifles a grin, backing away slowly from the scene.

Hope catches the name he is looking for, and, now finding the answer he needed to know, shoves the haphazard stack of papers into Alyssa, almost knocking her backward.

"You can tell Light that if she wants to 'recommend' anyone else for that school of yours, she needs to say more encouraging things about the potential students. She's not going to win anyone over with the tough cop routine." He states, bored, looking at his fingernails. With a change in mood that startles both women, he glances up from his deceptively casual stance and pierces Alyssa with a razor sharp look.

"The only reason why I'm not telling my mother to throw you out onto the street with the rest of the garbage is because, for some reason, Light brought you here. Either I'm missing something, or her standards have lowered pretty mightily over the years. You better start talking fast, Alyssa. I might not remember everything like, apparently, everyone else does, but I do remember that you betrayed me, and were working for the wrong team." Even now, Hope doesn't dare speak the enemy's name aloud, especially not in his father's house. "So, tell me, what are you doing here, truly?"

Defeated, frustrated, the young woman harrumphs. "I TOLD you the truth, Hope. Honest. Listen, Light wouldn't lie to you, would she? I'm playing for team good now. And I DID come here to recruit you. Look, I wasn't supposed to name any names, but seeing as how the cat's out of the bag now..." Deliberately, she stares, hands on hips, at Hope, "Fine. Light told me about how you made a decision yesterday. She pulled some strings at the Academy and I came. I happen to legitimately work for the US Military here. And I'm a scouter. You just happened to graduate. With impressive honors, I might add." Here her tone takes a side note, with a hint of appraisal. She looks up at Hope while flipping pages. "I'm part of the team, now, Hope. The GOOD side. You'll just have to believe me..."

"Which was my downfall, in the past." Hope retorts, brushing past both women and walking down the hallway. Nora is at a loss, not entirely sure of the past between her son and this young woman. None of it is sounding good. She was his enemy, back on Cocoon? This young thing?

Both woman trail Hope down the stairs, both with questions on their lips, but pause as they see Hope on the home phone, raising a finger for silence as he madly punches in some numbers, and promptly pushes the "speakerphone" button.

Alyssa watches as Hope inputs the phone number from a scrawled piece of paper he has kept hidden in his pocket, and then places the paper back from whence it came when he's finished. Three rings.

"Hello." It's Light's unmistakable voice on the other line.

"Light, it's me, Hope." Pause. "I have someone that showed up on my doorstep just now, she's here in the room with me, along with my mother. She doesn't belong here, normally, and she's tossing your name around a good bit. I just thought you should know that I have a traitor standing in my living room, telling my family you sent her here..."

"Alyssa Zeidelle. Right. She's working against Bhunivelze here, Hope. I didn't like it at first, either, but she's proven useful in a few situations in the field..."

"Yeah, I remember just how USEFUL she could prove to be." More grainy memories flash in Hope's head, and he winces as the colors and memories burn brighter. It was a flashback that he had on his birthday, one where he remembered he was OLDER than he is now, on this planet. The one where he was important. Alyssa was right there with him, right up until the end. The sting of betrayal hasn't faded, even after all this time.

There is an audible sigh on the other end of the line. "Hope, she's legit. She's here to help guide you into enrolling in West Point. When you said you were in yesterday, being part of the military front is part and parcel to the package. This is the first step. This is the logical course of becoming a soldier in this world; you don't have to have all of your memories to understand that this academy will train you to be of help in the fight against the old god. Alyssa is your first step. I could have sent any other recruiter, but I didn't want you to enroll first, then find out about her AFTER your first day. It wouldn't have been good. This way, you get to ask her questions and vice versa. She's a talent scout, Hope. She wants to prove no ill will. She will do that by getting you into the most prestigious military academy in the world, which conveniently also happens to be in close proximity to where you live. She is your link to getting you to where you need to be. Just trust me on this, Hope. I wouldn't lead you down a path that wasn't right. Just graduate, and we might be sent on the same assignments together. Just like old times. You will meet more unpleasant people out there than her. You have more than just one old enemy. Focus on what's important, and take help where you can get it. Farron out." Just like that, the line goes dead, and Hope is heaving, hating the belittling treatment where both his mother and Alyssa can hear. He just stares at the phone, shaking.

"Hope, this isn't easy, I know..." Alyssa starts in, but Hope raises his finger again for quiet. He then turns to the girl, calm restored.

"I will go with this, for Light's sake, and for hers only," He states. "For the moment, I will have to pretend like I had never known you from before and treat you like a normal person. Which is hard." Choking back bitterness, he clears his throat. "Would you like...some refreshments?"

The rest of the meeting accomplishes what needs to be done in order to set the gears in motion for Hope to be army trained in this reincarnation. He listens to the pitch and tells Alyssa, at the bottom of the conversation, that he would give the manner some thought, and sends her on her way.

"I thought you wanted to go to NYU," Nora reflects afterward, alone with just her son in the den, who is momentarily too stunned to rise from the couch.

"I still do. I don't think army life is for me. I mean, look at me," Hope laughs, holding out his hands. "I'd be skewered."

"Your grades were good enough to get into an Ivy League school." Nora lets her feelings be known by the statement, finding a balance between respecting her son's wishes, and stating her own.

Hope understands the underscoring point. "From what Alyssa was telling me, the armed forces really need some brain now to their operations, as well as the brawn. They really are in need of tech geeks like me, beefed up and out on the field, or as center of ops." He sighs. "Just exactly what enemy I'm supposed to be fighting, I don't know. Back on the old world, it was so easy. I had a clear objective. Now? Shadows and whispers."

"So just what are you going to do?" Nora asks, sitting down on the other couch across from her son, looking over the papers.

An idea strikes hope. "I'm going to ask some people in the armed forces what they think."


	6. Chapter 6

Hope finds Snow at a dance club after hours, downtown. It's somewhere he's never been, due to the fact that he hasn't been eighteen before a few days ago. Besides, most clubs in New York, you had to be 21 for admittance.

He lets the valet take his car, after an hour of gridlock, and is faced with a long line. A row of people stand in all manners of repose behind a plush red banister, and Hope moans at the wait. A few minutes goes by, and he shuffles forward a few steps.

"I'll never get in at this rate!" He states aloud. Need and despair clutch at Hope, and ignoring the protesting and shouting of the angry crowd, he cuts out of the rope and jogs up to the bouncer.

"...Alright, little missy, you and your friend here can go mosey right on in..." Hope hears a familiar voice, and peeks behind a piled updo to espy...

"Ry!" With happiness at finally seeing a way in, Hope laughs with relief. The rhinestone cowboy apparently also works the front door of one of the trendiest nightclubs in New York during his off hours.

Complete with a toothpick hanging out of the corner of his mouth, the man who escorted his parents to Hope's 18th birthday party looks up from an I.D. and waves to Hope.

"Well, I'll be damned. Little grown man wants to get his education early. I'm pretty sure I attended an event that commemorated your birthday a while back, so I'm pretty sure I know exactly how old you are, young guy. Today ain't your lucky day, little ranger. Rules are rules." He lazily waves Hope off. "I of all people know that you ain't twent..."

"It IS my lucky day, that's what you don't understand yet. Ry, you need to let me see Snow." At Hope's words, an audible gasp sounds behind him, even through the music pouring out through the club entrance's doors, and murmurings ripple through the line.

Ry squints down at Hope. "You can't get in, boy, that's what I'm aimin' to tell you..."

As a last resort, knowing that he can't be turned away, Hope leans over the podium, trying to pitch his voice to where only Ry can hear. "It's about the military operation. I'm in. I gave Light the green light. It's about West Point...please...I'm not here to...to...dance. For old time's sake?"

Ry moves his toothpick from one side of the mouth to the other. Not breaking his gaze from Hope, he tucks his chin to his left shoulder, cupping his mouth and speaking quickly into a holstered walkie talkie strapped there. There is more angry muttering and jostling behind the panicked young boy during this time, and after what seems like forever, Ry finally straightens, then nods slightly.

"Go on in. Enter the door and take the door to your left. You will be escorted to Mr. Villiers." Ry leans over, unclips the barrier hook leading inside, and Hope walks away, curious but too thankful to ask his old comrade about the formality in using Snow's last name.

He follows Rydea's instructions and a beefy silent type, complete with shades inside the darkly lit nightclub, quickly ushers the young boy up stairs and through service corridors winding around the interior perimeter of the club. The steady _wub-wub _of the music coming through the system is muffled here in the concrete and florescent lit back hallways. After a few landings and a brief interlude, the quiet guy knocks on a door in a complicated pattern. Pause. The door cracks open, and cool air wafts out.

"Thanks. The young Mr. Estheim is safe with me. You're good to go." Sunglasses dude nods, then Hope is through the door.

He finds himself in a room as dark as the rest of the nightclub interior. It's a security room, it looks like, with a bunch of monitors showing everything going on inside.

Snow is in the room, blonde hair gleaming in the low lighting, back turned to the monitors and to Hope. He has set up his own gaming console station, and looks deep in an RPG shooter game, hopping from foot to foot. "Come on in, Hope. I've ordered some takeout, if you want some."

"I-I'm good, thanks." Hope steps in, eyes flicking from space to space. "Alyssa told me that I could find you here. What are you, some sort of head of security for this place in your free time?"

At just that moment, a knock sounds at the door, and a muffled voice can be heard shouting over the din. "Hey, boss, there's a situation down in Sector 3. Jared might need some backup. I'm going in..."

"Dammit!" Snow cries out, and Hope sees that his character has been blown by an enemy grenade in the game he is playing. He throws the controller on the ground, and Hope winces as he sees the expensive looking equipment bounce off the floor.

"Yeah, I wanna handle this one. They ruined my kill streak." Snow shouts back, and he cracks his knuckles.

"Hey, kid, d'ya mind waiting up for me for a moment? I'll be right back." Hope nods, and Snow claps a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Thanks, kid."

Trying to set his teeth back from edge at being called "kid," Hope kicks his feet around the dark little office for a while, glancing at Snow's dead character being lobbed at by random gunfire while the camera spins on the scene endlessly.

Curious, Hope pauses mid-stride, and checks out the screens on the other end of the room. They're the ones pointed at the interior of the club, a live feed to the outside. It isn't hard to find the camera that's trained on the area where Snow's at.

"Whoa." Hope lets out in grudging appraisal at his old friend, who is in the middle of breaking up a barfight. He can barely make out Snow's locks peeking of his knitted beanie to distinguish him from almost single-handedly breaking out what looks to be a fight between two rival crews that had happened to be on the same turf. A flying elbow is all that can be seen rising above the surf of bodies pressed all around his friend. Necks and jaws fly back wherever the beanie and elbows are. There is a small circle of calm amidst a storm that is Snow Villiers, and in a flash, the two rival sides are quieted. The cops show up just as Snow has the two leaders of the opposing factions in locks under each muscular arm. The rest of the black shirts from the club's security sort the rest of the bystanders for questioning and possible arrest.

Snow speaks to one of the cops for a few moments, looking frustrated and harried. After a little while, he walks back to the concrete hallway, and to Hope's side in the little room.

By the time Mr. Villiers enters the TV room once more, Hope is lounging in a comfortable position on the overstuffed couch in front of the gaming screen, peering casually at a half-eaten takeout box of noodles.

"Sorry about that, kiddo, I just had some work to do. Duty calls." Hope looks at Snow under hooded lashes. There is a scrape on one arm and a couple of fresh bruises, but otherwise the blonde looks none the worse for wear.

"You're the OWNER of this club, not head of security." Hope states, eyes twinkling. "The cops talked to you, and after that, no one else. No one else was called."

"Guilty." Snow grins, then tosses one of Hope's boots off one of the couch cushions so that he can sit down. "Save some of that lo mein for me, alright? And keep your feet off the couch. Sheesh, man, what were you, born in a barn or something?"

"Nope. I was born in a hospital. You?"Hope grabs an extra pair of chopsticks in plastic packaging that is in a bag on a nearby end table. There is enough piles of half-eaten food around to feed half an army. At first he was going to decline eating Snow's dinner, but boredom and the realization that there's plenty going to waste changed the young man's mind.

"Hah, very funny. I wasn't born on this planet, and you know that." Snow snorts. "Now, as much as I appreciate this visit, I know you didn't come here just to hang out and catch up on old times. Which we still need to do sometime soon. So, what's up?"

"In short, I need some verification that I can trust Alyssa." Hope states around a mouthful of takeout. "I need some sort of proof that we can trust her. Also, I want to make sure that her and Light haven't gone batshit crazy in 18 years. Is what Light claims true? I mean, about Bhuni coming back possibly." Hope has decided that he will use the abbreviated version of the old god's name. It sounds less scary to shorten it. That way, he can suppress a shudder.

Snow gets serious real quick. He puts his controller back down, and squarely looks the younger in the eye. "I can't give you proof that you can trust Alyssa. You're on your own on that one, pal. But what I can do, is verify Light's claim. Well, I can at least say that I believe her, 100%. I mean, it just makes too much sense to ignore."

"Have you personally seen anything that would make you think that it's the old god trying to come back, and not just some unidentified happenings that are making Light paranoid about things being traced back to him? If I'm going to sign my life away to the government, I'm sure gonna need some damn good conspiracy theories headed my way, other than things happening that could be attributed to other phenomena, like the standard martian alien sightings or top-secret government projects."

"We ARE the top-secret government project, so on that, you have verifiable proof that we aren't behind the weird stuff you hear on T.V." Snow sighs. "There have been radio waves coming from the beyond, stuff that sounds like it's on a frequency similar to Bhuni's voice. I also think that there are some weird gamma rays, pictures taken from our satellites that haven't been released to the public, that take shapes a lot like the old god's hand outstretched, and always pointing toward earth, no matter what corner of the universe we find these light sources coming from. And then...there are have been people that the pentagon has under quarantine. Most people would say they are possessed, but not to us. There is a group of people, known terrorists from all different corners of the world, sleeper cells with nothing to link them except rantings and ravings about hearing voices from their 'master.' Their 'master' commands them to do things, all sorts of evil things, and they act under those instructions. It's our special op, me and Light and Sazh and Fang and Vanille, to find these people scattered all over the world before the regular troops can get there. We sneak in, grab them, and take them back to a special detainment facility. For questioning. It's beyond what normal people are aware of. They all speak their master's name, 'Bhunivelze.' We try to be there before their plans hatch, to protect civs and minimize damage, and we try to round up all the sleeper cells. There are more every day. We fear of losing the battle, of what we do somehow leaking to the general public. We fear that if the regular people know, then Bhunivelze's plan will have worked, to get the people to find out about him, and how this world came to be. They'll start asking questions, and our team will be uncovered. That's at least what we can figure out, Hope. That in order to come back to our world fully, the souls that have escaped him and fled to this planet will have to start to worship him again. When they do, then the barriers that keep him from directly influencing this plane will be broken, and he will have free reign on the people's souls again. We have to keep him hidden, silent. I don't see an end to the work we have in sight, though. I'll be truthful with you, Hope. We haven't yet understood just how these people find out about him in the first place. They are so different from the one another, and work autonomously. Each one believes he or she is 'special,' you know, like most kooks believe, and that they alone are working through their divine master's will. We hope that this is because the god can't marshal enough willpower to gain access into a collaborative group's mind, and that he can only pick off certain people one by one to spread his name and do terrible deeds through him. As of this point, it's been a game of cat-and-mouse between him and us, with us scrambling to defuse his nefarious plots quicker than they can be found out. So far, it's worked. But we find ourselves busier each day. With you to join our team, and putting that brain of yours to work with us, we're hoping you can uncover what makes certain people more receptive to his coercions, Hope. Maybe then we will have the edge over Bhunivelze that we need to get the upper hand once and for all. You're the missing link that we've been waiting for."

"Just how long have you guys been stalking me?" Hope asks, and he realizes just how much of a teenager he sounds by asking the question. He doesn't care, though. He IS a teenager.

Snow sighs. "You don't think we'd honestly not make sure you were okay while we were here, did you? We tried to find each other as soon as we realized that we had made it to this planet alive and safe. We all came here at the same age as we were when we left, fully grown. But you, of course...well, you already know the story. You entered this place the 'normal' way."

"That isn't answering the question." Hope isn't hungry anymore, and places his food on the table.

"We've been here for about a year. We were already in the military when we 'woke up.' From one moment I was dancing out in the stars, shooting toward a big blue planet, and the next, I was on base, waking up on a cot. That was quite an experience, and shock, mind you."

For some reason, a gripping sense of unease lessens somewhat from Hope's stomach. It would have been weird if he had been shadowed by this group ever since he was a baby. This seems silly for all it's reassurance, considering that now he believes Light's story about the old god, now that Snow has given him a bit more recon of what is actually happening.

"So that explains how you guys know about my grades and what-not. It also explains what Alyssa was saying when she came to my house to recruit me." Hope slumps back into the cushions, raking a hand through his hair. Snow punches him hard, jolting him forward.

"Hey! I thought I told you to stop punching me like that." He moans, shooting is friend a sour look.

"You're gonna have to get used to it, especially now that you've made the decision to enlist in the military and help us." Snow stands up, and stretches his arms behind his head. Then he pauses, and turns to his young friend. His blue eyes sadden. "You ARE helping us, aren't you, kiddo?"

"Okay, you've got to stop calling me that, too. Ground rule. Number one, no punching. Number two, don't refer to me as if I'm a kid."

Snow laughs. "That last one's gonna be tough, bud. You've always been a kid to us, between this world or the last."

Hope sighs inwardly, begrudging the easy switch from "kid" to "bud," but then also closes his eyes and sees bright flashes of him older than Snow. He was older than any of them, once. He is also eighteen now.

But then, he knows he is much older than any of them realize. There is a deep, dark place inside him where he wants to forget, that time when he was alone with Bhuni. It was just him and the presence of the god for so long, up on a cold, lonely...ship? No, that wasn't the term used toward his old home that he lived in, watching the centuries pass by while the god tortured his mind for memories and information. He stayed in a stasis, forever young but watching as generations passed beneath him, as everyone he knew and loved died, and their children's children died.

It was an _**ark**_. Hope opens his eyes. Yes, that was the word for it. An ark. That was where he was perpetually fourteen for so long, until one of his oldest friends came to set him free from the torture and misery of being imprisoned by the god. Light rescued him. And then, he remembers helping her...somehow...but why Light? Why is she so different to him than any of his old friends?

Snow didn't know. Snow wasn't aware of just how old his mind is, inside this young body. Then, to be born as an infant after so long of detached awareness...so cruel. No wonder his mind shut down the memories and the counting of time. No wonder his brain wanted to believe he was only born a normal child, and that his dreams might be misguided delusions. Of course, Hope had WANTED the woman with the rose hair to be real, to be at the beach waiting for him after he had woken up. That is why he had waited every night for so long. But he still wants to reject this branch of the military his friends are involved in, and he still wants a normal life...just with all of his old friends in it. He made the decision to bridge the juxtaposition in his life, but...couldn't he have just the best of both worlds? Ack, the farther down the rabbit hole Hope falls, the harder it is to try to keep his sanity...

Hope snaps back to the present, at Snow's expectant gaze. He sighs. "Yeah, I'm gonna help you. I already told Light that I would so...I guess I don't have a chance to back out, do I?"

"Yeah, actually you do. Now's the best time." Snow shrugs, and decides to respawn his character to continue his game. "Now that you know what's up, and aren't part of the program yet. I mean, you know none of us WANT you to back out, but..." Snow shrugs. "I at least owe it to you to be honest, don't I?"

Hope nods, and grabs the other controller. "Punch me in, bro. I want in on this. Let's talk about all this next level stuff another day. I'm in, but right now, I don't wanna think about it."

"Sure thing." Snow nods like he understands. "But you're covering delivery."

Hope side-eyes his old friend. "Delivery? What delivery?"

Snow gestures to Hope's empty takeout box. "You ate the rest of my dinner, bro. House rules. You laid some ground rules, tiger, but I've got my own. You eat a man's food, you pony up. I don't mind sharing, but if you stay, I need more. A man's gotta work on fuel, you know."

Hope is flabbergasted, blinking and looking around at the legions of little white boxes littering the dimly lit room in various states of disarray. "Uh...sure?" His voice catches at the end, embarrassingly. "Just how much more do you need to eat, anyway?"

Snow shrugs. "Just punch #2 on the phone and ask for the usual at Club Pulse. They know what to send. Oh, but you have to give em your card number. You DO have a debit or credit on you, right?"

Hope picks up the phone receiver Snow hands him. "You have the takeout place's number on speed dial?"

Snow dials in the console to recognize Hope's controller as a second player, not looking at Hope. "Yeah, you don't?"

Hope just sighs. "I don't even want to know how much the usual at Club Pulse is going to cost me."

Snow laughs. "No, you don't. But you're going to be a West Pointer soon, right? You can afford it, now. Hurry it up. I'm hungry and I want to play. Waiting on you for both."

Hope laughs, resigned. There are a lot of things on his plate, but right now, he is going to take a much-needed bachelor night in with his friend.

"Oh, by the way, you're invited to my wedding. It's next week. We've been waiting on you to ask you, and we planned it after your 18th, cause we knew we'd see you by then, to explain everything. You're coming right? And by the way, you're my best man, so you need to find a tux."


	7. Chapter 7

Hope pulls on his collar.

"This dressing up isn't for me." He complaints, albeit quietly, to Fang standing next to him. They are in one of the wedding tents reserved for Snow's side of the family, getting ready for the wedding to begin. It seems as if he has spent all of his life waiting for the wedding of Snow and Serah to begin.

Fang chuckles at the reluctantness of her friend, and comes round to adjust Hope's cravat. "You'll do fine, kid," She remarks, easily falling back in to the protective role of nurturer.

She and Vanille are the only ones out of all of Hope's old posse of friends that can call him "kid." After all, coming from either one of them, it's true. Especially for Fang. They were born centuries before even he was. All of the inner writhing he feels, when he's not trying to forget the past, about being older than his physical state suggests, they must feel, only ten times over.

Hope feels an inner sinister tug. "How about you? All of the girls are getting ready right now, and I'm sure that one of them looks especially pretty today..."

Fang's eyes turn hot, and the slightest bit of color rises to her cheeks. "Are you crushing on one of them right now? If you're turning to me for dating advice, I'm afraid I am the worst person you could talk to. Normally I'd tell you to talk to Snow, but he's kind of busy right now...maybe Sazh? He was married once..."

Hope guffaws. "Come off it, Fang. You don't need to hide your feelings. Especially today. We're older than most of the others, now. We can talk. We've both lived too long, and been through too much together, for you to act bashful on me now. You're a warrior. You confront the difficulties in your life. Why be shy?"

Fang looks flustered, which is...odd. "Hope, this isn't funny. And that's fresh, coming from you." Like a viper, Fang turns the tide of the conversation, striking back at Hope's laughter. "You're one to talk."

"Me?" The boy sputters, wiping his lips with the back of his sleeve.

"Yeah." Fang doesn't need her cane anymore, but the limp is still barely visible as she totters over to look Hope in the eye. "You come clean about your feelings, maybe I'll dish up mine. Until then, I don't see that we have anything to discuss." With a nod of her head, she turns and tries to walk with dignity out of the tent. She manages a crisp back with her shuffling tread.

Hope stands perplexed, eyebrows drawn down. The past couple of weeks have been a blur. He hasn't given himself, or his personal thoughts, much thought in the whirlwind of activity that has besieged him as of late. He had submitted his application to West Point, and had an expedited resounding acceptance. He had to get his affairs in order with NYU, who was very disappointed that he was withdrawing from their program. He had to pack and had just started taking classes for two days at his new campus of choice. Boot camp is this weekend. He had to move out, officially for the first time in his life, of his childhood home in this world. There were tears and goodbyes from Nora and Bartholomew. He had to help Snow with the wedding preparations, which from that moment playing games in the club's security room until now, had only been two weeks' worth of time. That wasn't a lot to help with getting the wedding underway, finding and fitting a tux, and trying to throw a bachelor party. Somehow he had managed all of that, and today was the day to finally draw a breath and have one last celebration with his friends before the real work began.

What person could Fang possibly be talking about?

Anyway, it's not important. There are details to attend with. He is on Snow's side, along with Fang and Sazh. Light, Serah, and Vanille are on the bride's side, and the two camps are set at opposite ends of the beach, where the wedding is taking place at sunset. He and the rest of his friends have spent most of the day running back and forth, along with the hired help, while Snow and Serah have remained out of sight of one another. Snow is nursing a raging hangover that Hope has spent most of his time trying to remedy and conceal. Hope can attest that Serah looks beautiful. They wanted something reminiscent of Bodhum, and it's fortunate that they did, for Hope was one of the worst people besides Fang and Vanille to really try and conjure up what the seaside town was like. He had only visited it for one night. That part of the wedding prep was fortunately not his responsibility. The burden of that recreation was on the shoulders of Light and Serah. Snow had loudly decried helping out with the venue prep as "women's work," and so the two sisters had, apparently, spent a lot of time recently bonding over memories and trying to create things as fast as they could remember them from hundreds of years ago.

Without realizing where his steps are taking him, Hope walks over to where Sazh is, by the bar. Hope jogs up as he realizes his friend is trying to pack more ice cubes covertly into a dainty handkerchief.

"Hey, Sazh, need some help? I..."

"Shh! Keep your voice down!" Sazh hisses at Hope, then nods to the bartender, slipping him a ten dollar bill as a tip to insure his silence about the ice from the rest of the guests. As an alibi, he is also handed a beer.

"Thanks, man, keep the change," Sazh loudly tells the barkeep, who winks almost imperceptibly, then nods as he pockets the ten and continues drying off glasses.

"Man, you need to turn 21 on this planet, and QUICK. I'm the only one out of the groom's side of the wedding party that can keep coming up here and 'buy drinks.' This isn't how I wanted to spend this wedding, mind you." Sazh confides quietly, and shoves the clacking bunch of ice cubes into Hope's hands as they walk away. Sazh grabs the beer.

"If this keeps up, I'mma have to affect a buzz, and I can't stand chumps who pretend like they're drunk when they're not." Sazh snorts. "Thank God that at least even my oldest friends don't know what I really like. I can't stand beer. I don't know what I would do if these people knew that."

"There's Fang? Last I checked, she's still part of the groom's party, and she's of an age to help you out. And everyone here knows that she likes to drink. I mean, er..." Hope stumbles, catching a glimpse of Sazh's disapproving side-eye at his last statement. Hope coughs, shoving the ice cubes deeper in his pocket, hoping that they don't cause a wet stain in the front of his tux in an embarrassing spot. "What I mean is, where is she?"

"Why you askin' me? She was with you, last time I saw her." Sazh exclaims.

"I...I don't think that she's really in the right place right now. I mean, she's kind of...side tracked. I think she's doing her best to try to help Snow today, but I think her heart is elsewhere..."

Sazh snorts. "You don't have to go on any farther trying to be tactful, Hope. I knew what she was about long before any of the rest of you caught on. Me and Vanille were very close for a long while." With that said, Sazh opens the tent flap that houses the groom, and walks to the back in the midst of a pile of chaos.

Snow is hunched over in a chair, holding his head. Hope hastily produces the ice and hands them out toward Snow, almost dropping a few cubes in the process of his hurry. Sazh finds the nearest flat surface and wastes no time depositing his untouched beer on it. Hope sees that there's quite a few opened beer bottles that are turning flat, untouched.

Snow groans. "How bout a bit of hair o' the dog, my friend? Help a brother out. I mean, it IS my wedding day, I want to celebrate."

"How bout you celebrate AFTER you say your vows. Come on man, you've been waiting way too long for this day to come. Celebrate all you want tonight. Let's get these vows out of the way first so you can get to being a married man. I'm not waiting another day for you to be sober. This is one of the few days the army let us all have off together, and dammit, it's been long enough of a wait." Sazh tries to talk sense into his slightly hungover friend, and barely conceals his frustration. Snow espies Hope with his hand outstretched.

"Ah, Hope, my best man!" Snow grins, and takes the handkerchief. "It's YOUR fault I'm like this, anyway. If any of the blame should be put on anyone here for how I'm acting, it should be on you, Hope." That stated, Snow nods and puts the ice to his head.

"Wait, what, me?" Hope pulls back, blinking. "It's my JOB to be the one to throw the bachelor party. That's kind of the job description. I didn't WANT to have to do it the day before the wedding, but you only gave me two weeks to pull it off! Maybe if I had known a little while BEFOREhand, I wouldn't have to put everything together so last minute..."

"We couldn't have told you before." Snow mumbles with his head hanging down. "You were still denying your pre-Earth existence before your birthday. And we had waited until you turned 18 to reveal any of our plans to you. That was the democratic majority vote. Yeah, Light told us she told you. So, if anything, we were all waiting on YOU, my man. And you know how hard it was not to run off and elope the moment we realized that we were here, together, on this planet? Especially after all those previous years of waiting in another lifetime? We waited. For you. Then we waited two more weeks, after that. We GAVE you time, Hope. As much as we could."

Hope sighs, rubbing his hair. "I see your point, dude, but that's just how it has to happen."

"The wedding's going to start any minute." Sazh is saying, checking his watch. "You ready, my man?"

Snow laughs, chucking the handkerchief to the side. "I was BORN ready, Sazh. Literally. Let's do this. I'm so ready. I can't wait to see my bride."

The ceremony is beautiful. Everyone that is a guest, came from either Cocoon or Gran Pulse, save for the paid attendants. Cid Raines officiates the ceremony, having earned an online justice of the peace certificate after moving to this world.

Light, of course, is the maid of honor. Hope can't help but grin as he escorts the tall warrior woman down the aisle. They had the rehearsal a few nights before, of course, but she was dressed in street civ clothes when they had run through this before. He isn't prepared for her dress.

The theme is simple, beachy, clean. Everyone wears white, not just the bride. All the women in the wedding party are dressed in simple white shifts with a bow banded around the middle, like the bride, only Serah's dress is slightly more embellished. Everyone is barefoot. Even the guests. There are buckets set aside with little tags on them, telling everyone to leave their footwear, and their previous cares and worries, at the threshold of the party before coming in to view the vows.

"You look...beautiful." Hope blushes slightly at the feminine compliment he gives Light under his breath as they walk down the aisle, surrounded by rows of folding chairs.

Light tucks her chin, and messes with the woody bouquet. "Thanks. You, uh...don't look bad yourself."

As Cid speaks the words over a slightly weaving Snow and his blushing bride, Hope can't help but look over the clasped hands toward the taller maid of honor facing him on the opposite side. She does look beautiful, especially with the backdrop of the setting sun and the waves behind her, throwing the rosy hair into a special light.

Snow and Serah are kissing after what only seems like moments, and clapping and laughing follows. As if in a dream, he is reaching forward to take Light's hand again as they make their way to the end of the narrow walkway trimmed in with seashells, lightly raked and now dotted with the footprints of the bare soles of the wedding party.

"Congrats to your sister. It looks like Snow's your brother-in-law now. Finally."

Light looks happy out of the corner of her eye. "Yeah. It's about time." Truer words hadn't been spoken. Snow and Serah had to have waited longer than anyone that ever lived to get married.

The after-party immediately follows the wedding, and is thrown without a hitch. The couple decided that they wanted to use the same pavillion that was used for Hope's 18th birthday celebration for their reception. It was easy to tell the guests where to meet up that way-after all, everyone that was at Hope's birthday, was also invited to the reception...

...with one small add-on. Hope is surprised to see Alyssa there as well. He had missed her, somehow, during the wedding ceremony. Apparently she had been seated in one of those folding chairs he had walked by alongside Light.

"Yeah, we thought it would be a little too soon to have Alyssa at your birthday party." Fang is filling Hope in on the details, shouting over the music coming from the speakers dotted around the room, courtesy of Snow's club. Fang is already deep into her cups by the time Hope finds her, angrily shouting at her for an explanation of the betrayer's appearance here.

Fang continues to elaborate. "We all work together now, so it's just courtesy to invite her to the wedding. For all her faults, she still knows most of us from the old world, and that kind of is the only qualifying trait that we all share in common in order to be witness to the wedding."

"Well, someone still could have told me I might have to deal with her here." Hope shouts back, peeved. Fang just chuckles at him.

"I wouldn't worry too much about her, mate. She's kept a low profile since landing on this world. She really is trying to make amends. I wouldn't be so quick to judge. She's not the only one that has had to atone for past sins in her life." That last sentence sounds a bit too self-upbraiding to Hope's ears, and he keenly picks up on the hint Fang is throwing his way. He remembers that Fang was solely responsible for becoming Ragnarok the first time Cocoon and Gran Pulse split. It was something Fang had to deal with for a long time, until she made amends by reforging the two worlds together, anew.

Snow and Serah lead the first dance, choosing a tune that is more modern than reminiscent. They told Hope beforehand that they were trying to choose things that tie together their memories from the old world and the new.

After the applause when the song ends, Hope finds his way to pay his respects to the bride and groom personally.

Serah is beaming, and Snow's hangover is quickly receding behind the joy in his sparkling blue eyes.

Hope shakes both of their hands. "Congrats, guys. This is amazing. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you both waiting for me."

"Can't have a wedding without the best man, now can we?" Snow asks, grinning. "Speaking of which, it is kind of tradition on this world that the best man give a speech. When's that going to come around?"

Hope is frozen. "Heh. Well, I ah...hadn't quite gotten around to that part yet." This is true. Hope had been so busy in the whirlwind of life recently that he hadn't had time to write anything down for the reception speech. He had half-hoped that the detail would be omitted, and that he could just end up without having to give one at all.

"Oh, no you don't. I'm making sure you don't leave here without paying your dues. As a matter of fact, let's just get the business over with now, shall we? More time for partying after." Snow strides over to the center of the room, and Serah slips away amidst Hope's sputtering protests to turn off the music, which is generated from her iPod, shuffling through a wedding playlist pre-generated for the festivities.

"Hey, everyone, can I have your attention for a minute, please? Hope wants to say something, on behalf of our wedding. As my best man, I give him the floor, as is his due." Normally, Hope thought that the best man was to propose a wedding toast during the dinner, but he doesn't see anything of the sort as far as dinner goes. At any rate, he definitely isn't ready to make a speech in the middle of the dance floor, right after the first dance of the newly wed couple.

Gulping, he clears his throat. There isn't a DJ at this wedding, just the personal music off of Serah's iPod, so there isn't a microphone for him to speak into. The guests are intimate enough, and their number small enough, that he doesn't need a microphone to reach the people in the bungalow setting, but that doesn't mean that he feels any less awkward. He locks gazes with Light for just a moment, and can feel the color rising to his cheeks.

"Ah, uh...hey, guys." He waves his fingers infinitesimally, and the music stops. He espies the bride giving him a thumbs-up as she pauses the music hooked to Snow's borrowed speaker system.

"Yeah, uh...well...I don't have anything prepared or anything..." To his chagrin, Snow starts up a chant, quickly followed by the rest of the attendees:

"Speech! Speech! Speech!"

"Okay, thank you! So, ah, without further adieu, here I go." The chants flicker out and die as Hope quickly starts talking before the voices can go any further, rising into the din.

"So, as most of you know, Snow and I didn't start out on the best of terms. In fact, you could say that he was my number one enemy. All I could think of was revenge, after feeling like he was to blame for the death of my mother." He looks out and sees Norah being edged out into the forefront of the circle of gatherers by the crowd, and she looks at him lovingly. The look in her eyes gives him the determination he needs to continue.

"But, um, well, I learned something really quick about Snow. It's a character trait to him that, love it or leave it, most of you know within moments of meeting him. He puts everyone else before himself. He will do anything to protect the people he cares for. He's selfless, hard-working, determined, and brave." There is scattered applause at this, and Hope allows for a natural pause as he glances at the groom, who is scratching his head in slight embarrassment. Serah is poking his ribs, then leans forward and kisses his cheek.

"So I learned that Snow would have given anything, even his own life, to bring my mother back, if he could. I learned that nothing bad that has ever happened with Snow is from his own fault. Everything he has ever done has been selfless or what is perceived as best for the next person. I learned the hardest lesson-that death isn't intentional, and that my grief isn't something I carried alone. He shared in my suffering, and proved that he was willing to do anything to make me understand that he cared." Silence after this, and Hope looks to his friend once more.

"I learned that he had a lot to live for, just like I did. I learned how much he cared for Serah, even when he thought that she could be an enemy to him and his way of life. He never questioned, he never faltered, even when the rest of us did, myself included, in our quest to save the world."

"Out of all of us, I think he is the only one out of our camaraderie that would have continued on the path his feet were set upon if he had been told his actions would eventually turn him l'Cie, and that the fate of the entire world would rest in his hands. He lifted up all of us, and love was the driving force behind everything that he did. It's out of his love for his new wife that led all of us to be standing here today. Without him, we wouldn't have this beautiful new world to enjoy, nor all of the things in it we might take for granted."

There is a pause as the weighty words from Hope sink in, and the crowd digests what the youngest man in attendance, but also the oldest, has to say.

"Love is what has brought us together here. Love, and only that. It was the love between Snow and Serah, the love between sisters as well. The love Lightning bore for her sister Serah, and the love I bore for my mother, that gave us tonight. It's also the love of a father for his son, which is why Sazh was willing to risk it all-to protect his child." Sazh lifts little Dajh, adorably dressed in his toddler's tux, onto his shoulders. There is a smattering of applause, and pats on Sazh's back, for his sacrifices and commitment.

Hope smiles and lets the murmurings and applause trickle off, and is happy to see the content smiles on familiar faces all around him.

"Love is also what will keep us going. Every person here came to this world, riding on a beam of light, from the old one. We came here not knowing what we would find, only that this was to be our new home. I have learned recently that we need to protect it at all costs. We need to look forward to our Calm, our peace, here. But we also need to stay perseverant to any threats that might threaten in the unknown." Hope looks to Light, who incrementally shakes her head. _So, now's not the best time to bring up the threat of Bhuni in mixed company._ Okay. Anyway, it was a wedding, so maybe darker subjects are best to be discussed at a later time.

He clears his throat, and with a beatific smile, Hope clasps his hands together and quickly changes tack. "So! With love in our minds and hearts, we are united here, on this day that all of us have waited for, for so long."

Cheers of "Here, here!" And, "It's about time!" Come up through the crowd, and he can see Fang pumping a fist into the air.

"Love will keep us vigilant and strong in this new place. Love binds us to the memories of our homeworld. Tonight we celebrate that, with the two living icons of the past age we came from, as well as being the pinnacles of hope we can cling to in the darkest of times. They are our greatest symbols of happiness and strength. I introduce to you, Mr. And Mrs. Snow Villiers."

The shouts and applause are deafening, and from the looks on the couples' faces, Hope doesn't think he could have done their emotions any more justice with his speech.

_Not too shabby for not being prepared._ Hope thinks to himself as he is surrounded in a hug from Snow and Serah. _It's good that no one noticed my little hiccup._

Or, at least, Hope doesn't think that anyone noticed how his speech could have turned darker when he almost brought up the old god. Even Snow looks happy and unworried-but then again, Snow had always looked like that, even through the chaos and hard times.

Begging water for a parched throat, the young man elbows his way through the applause and congrats over to the bar, hopping up on a stool. When he is brought the glass of ice water, he presses the cool container to his forehead, pursing his lips in comfort.

_Whew, that was close. _

"Good speech." Hope almost jerks at the voice close to him, and looks over to espy Light leaning back, elbows propped up behind her on the bar, surveying the crowd.

"Thanks. I did the best I could for it being kind of popped on me and all." Hope glances at her over the rim of the water. _She still looks so beautiful._

"I'm glad you didn't bring up anything that would be a little...terrifying, to some of our younger or more unaware guests. Like your parents, for starters." Light comments nonchalantly, looking down at her fingernails. "_THAT_ would have been a disaster."

"I didn't know that only a few people from the old world would know. I thought everyone that came over with us would be in on it...except me, I guess, because of my...difference."

Light nods. "It would be an easy assumption to make. But you now know that we are keeping what might be going on a secret not only to the outside world, but to some of our own as well. The most vulnerable. The ones least equipped to deal with what might be going on." She smiles encouragingly as she spins around on the stool, and places an arm around Hope's shoulders. "Seriously, good speech, though."

Light shifts to get up from her stool, but Hope places a gentle hand on her arm. "Dance with me."

Light turns to him. "What?"

At first, he is shocked at his words, but then, in a brief flash of a moment, realizes that they are the exact words he wants to say. Everything is right with the world as he sets down his drink. He won't take a no for an answer. "Dance with me."

"I...I'm not sure..." Light is flustered, which is seriously adorable and incredible at the same time.

"This IS a wedding, right? So, let's have our dance. I'm the best man, you're the maid of honor. I'm sure it's happened before." Hope extends a hand. "Except this time, this isn't courtesy calling. It's me, and I want to dance with YOU, Light, maid of honor or no."

At this, Light nods, once, and she allows herself to be escorted out to the main floor again, with couples parting way at their approach.

Grinning nonchalantly, Hope bows crisply, then takes her by the waist.

Light's blush is beginning to reach her hairline. "You don't have to act all melodramatic."

"I'm in a rental. You're in a ballgown. This is a wedding. If now's not the proper venue, when is?" Hope isn't really very sure how to dance, but he just sort of rolls with what everyone is doing, and keeps to the sidelines. The music is peppy, a pop song, so they sort of lightly caper across the floor. Light doesn't seem to know the steps, but her training for so many years has taught her to be quick and light on her feet. It takes no time for her to get the main theme of what to do.

"Have you ever danced before?" Hope asks, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"What?" Light looks up from the floor. Her manner is almost brusque.

"I said, have you ever danced bef..."

"I heard what you said. Yes. I have. I can't believe you would ask such a thing." She heatedly turns and looks toward the other couples on the floor, and mimics perfectly their moves.

Hope is fumbling now, more bemused than paying attention to the steps. "Yeah, but I'll bet it was on Cocoon. Don't worry, you're a natural. And, by the way, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I haven't danced much here myself." He grins. "Don't sweat it, you're doing fine."

That seems to change Light's mood, and she turns to him, smiling. "Th-thank you." The song stops here, and the iPod effortlessly switches tack, a slow song starting now. With that, Light's eyes look to pop out of her head.

"Excuse me, Hope. Thanks for the dance." She runs off the dance floor, shouldering past people standing on the edge. Hope is aware that many sets of eyes are on him, but he doesn't care. He is too busy laughing and shaking his head at Light.

Sazh sidles up next to him after he reclaims his seat at the bar.

"So, you finally made a move, huh? We were all wondering when that was gonna happen. About time, if you ask me."

"What are you talking about, Sazh?" Hope chortles, looking at his friend.

"You know what I'm talking about. Don't act all innocent. I see that I was wrong before. Maybe you actually WERE listening when I was talking to you earlier. You know, seize the moment, Carpe Diem, that sort of thing..."

"Seriously, Sazh, I have no idea what you are trying to say..."

"You finally stepped up to the plate and made your feelings known for Light, that's what he's talking about. And honestly, Hope, you should be smarter than all that." Fang is on the opposite side of Hope's shoulder now, favoring her weak side still as she hops up to the stool. The drink is making her a little bold.

"I gotta say, you kind of stole the thunder from Snow and Serah's reception. Now all everyone will talk about is how you and Light were out there dancing together."

Hope gives her his best modern teenage glare. Her eyes twinkle merrily over the rim of her margarita glass, unfazed. "I don't care what people are saying about me and Light. That doesn't bother me." He gets up then, determined to find her. Before he leaves, he turns back, almost as an afterthought.

"And, barkeep? Yeah, this one's had too much. It's about time to cut her off." He points at Fang, and then turns his back, heading through the crowd. He can hear his friend's sputtering protestations halfway across the room over the din of music and people.


	8. Chapter 8

She is alone, outside.

The darklit beach is giving Hope memories of a few weeks prior, to the night he turned eighteen, the best-and the most life-changing-night of his life on this planet.

"Welcome home, Light." Lightning Farron, originally known as Claire Farron, is saying those words under her breath as Hope advances from behind. Those are the words that Hope greeted her with, the night of his birthday.

Hope stops, the sand underneath his shiny black shoes giving his footsteps away. Knowing that he has announced his presence without actually speaking, Hope stops respectfully a few steps behind the brooding soldier. He has caught her talking to herself, and doesn't want to go back inside, but at the same time, he doesn't want to intrude. He puts his hands in his pockets, smirking to himself with boyish delight that he should catch her thinking of _**him**_**.**

"You don't know what those words mean, do you?" Light addresses Hope now, without turning to look at him. She is looking up at the stars.

"No, not really. I said them because in my dream, I was saying those words to you, and it just felt _right_. I couldn't say how I knew, only that it was fitting that when I saw the rose-haired woman from my dreams, that's what I should say. I know it sounds silly, but hey, if a literal woman from my dreams comes up to me, why not continue with the fantasy? Weirder things have happened." Hope shrugs, although he knows she cannot see the gesture. "Why do you ask?"

Light sighs, and drops her head. Only then, does she turn on a heel to face him. The gauzy white material of her shiftlike gown catches a crosswind, and flutters alluringly at her slim ankles.

"It means EVERYTHING, Hope. Those were the words that you, or rather, should I say, Bhunivelze, chose to address me with right before I defeated him and we all ended up here."

Her words freeze Hope cold. "What do you mean? No, it's not possible. I DREAMED those words, they're mine."

Light steps forward. Once. "It's true. You-don't really remember what happened right before we came here, do you? Of our time together on the Ark, about me becoming the Savior on the last world, about you helping me."

"I-I remember lots of things. I remember you, and the others. I remember helping save Cocoon. I remember growing up, being older than I am now. I remember...vaguely...working with Alyssa, before I learned she betrayed me. I remember helping Serah and Noel, Snow and Yeul. I remember...being trapped. By Bhuni." Hope shivers. "There's darkness...and pain. And suffering. I...don't really like to think about it."

"I understand your feelings about your time with the God aren't the most pleasant, Hope. But I really want you to remember. Do you remember anything after your time with Bhunivelze? The events leading up to bringing us all here, and how we all came to be..."

"You saved me." Hope lifts his head, and is ashamed and embarrassed to feel a single tear on his cheek, cold from the beach wind. _How did this happen? I came out here to talk about my feelings with Light, and now she is forcing me to remember these memories. It's not fair!_

He struggles with his words, only continuing because of the way Light is looking at him. "You-I would have been in that dark place for a long time, but then I remember you came and pulled me from his dark embrace. I was free." He lifts his head up, hugging one arm to his chest. "You saved me, and then we came here. I dreamed of you each night until you showed up. That's when I knew to say those words. I remembered you because you saved me from the darkness, and brought me-all of us-here."

"There's still more. I will tell you, like I promised." Light is stepping up now, and is close enough to lay a gentle hand on Hope's arm. He looks up into those blue eyes.

"Your aversion to Bhunivelze lies deeper than you know. He **USED **us, Hope. You and I both. He kept you body locked away with him for over five hundred years. Then, he used the love I bore my sister as leverage to make me do his dirty work as the Savior, bringing the souls from the old world into this one. You were the last soul that I saved, Hope. I didn't know he had been keeping you from me. He used your body and your memories against us, tricked us. Who knew how he had used you in the five hundred years' worth of time until I showed up to herald the end of our world?"

"F-five hundred _years_? No. No, it can't be. I remember feeling lost and cold, and that I was with the god, yes, and that you saved me. Everything after that is crystal clear. Well, except for the time I was a baby on this planet, you know, because no babies have memories."

"This must be painfully hard to digest, Hope. But your body was locked away inside of an Ark, and at the very end, you were used to help me remotely while I worked on being a fisher of souls during the last thirteen days of the old world. Your emotions and, now apparently, your clear memories of what were transpiring were locked away from you. In that one case, maybe it's for the best. That you don't remember, I mean. It helps ease some of the pain, I'd imagine."

Hope feels hot, even with the beach wind blowing on him. He walks forward a few steps, and stares at the waves.

"You're right about you saving me, Hope." Light says from behind him. He can feel her presence almost against his back. "I was going to be lost in a timeless sea of darkness, but you reached through the void, and pulled me back, reminding me that I had friends who loved and cared for me. I was being selfish and brooding and morose. I told you to go to your family, the ones you've always had, your mom and dad. They were waiting for you to be reborn to them. At the last moment, you turned away from your parents and decided instead to save me. You chose me." With those words, Hope feels a slight memory pulling at the back of his brain, making her words ring true. He turns and sits against the wet rock, looking at the way Light pulls her hair from her eyes.

"The fortunate thing is, is that you were still born to the same set of parents on this world, pulling me back from the Chaos or no. We all came here on beautiful beams of light, where you were then born; and seventeen years later, I stepped off a train. We all woke up in different places, different parts of the world. I was in Europe. You were here, obviously, in New York. Snow was at a military facility, in U.S. held lands, in the middle east. Fang and Vanille woke up together. They are the only exceptions to the rule of all of us being scattered, with all of our memories intact, trying to find each other one last time in this new place. They were in Australia. Sazh was born in the Midwest, also as a naval pilot."

"We found each other pretty quick, all of us pretty much being the same as we remembered ourselves and each other to be when the last world ended. Except you. You were, as you know, born and raised in this world, like normal children, but apparently also with a fuzzy set of memories from a past life that contradicted what you were taught about life and death here. I'm glad that you chose to hold on to those memories of what you had been, Hope. It helps you now, and it helps all of us."

"But then we had to decide. Technically, at that point, you were still a child. Like Vanille, but Vanille had no family other than Fang, and came here as she was from before."

"You voted. That was the democratic vote that everyone's been talking about."

"Yes, we voted. On what to do, since it seemed like that you had adapted to the life here..."

"You were spying on me?" Hope lashes out, narrowing his eyes.

Light throws her hands up defensively. "All of this I'm telling you, and **THIS **is what you choose to get mad about? Yes, but only for a few short days. Right before you had your birthday. We got in touch with Nora and Bartholemew. Well, the other people that helped us in the old world did, anyway. They held a full recollection of previous events, but confirmed that you did not, and out of a lack for anything else to do, and so as not to cause you any undue confusion, they decided to raise you as a 'normal' child."

"Well, I was still confused. That didn't help any in that department. To be honest, I still kind of am." The sulkiness, so quick for Hope to reach to, lies brimming just underneath the surface. "They took me to doctors, Light. Like I was some sort of freak. They could have told me the truth at any time. They could have helped me with my nightmares-with my dream. My dream...of you." Hope is saying all of this in a rush, but at the very end, he realizes what has slipped out, and blushes deeply. "That is to say, I, er, ah...dreamed of you every night. But not like that! I had the dream, you know, of where we could meet, on the beach. But I just didn't know when. When I got my own car, that's when I decided that I would head down there, every night. I couldn't miss you coming to meet me, Light. You had to help me with my dreams. I just knew that if I could see you, the woman with rose-colored hair that I kept meeting every night, that you would help me make sense of all this. Explain the memories. Tell everyone that I'm not crazy."

Light smiles. "Yeah, I was told about your dream. Cid and Rydea said that your parents told them you'd be at the beach, cause you went there every night. I was relayed the information, and that's when I came to find you-on my motorbike."

"So this is fate?" Hope asks, clutching his hands together. He has a habit of rubbing his hands together worridley, so he usually has his fingerless gloves on. In the formal attire, he feels a bit worse for the wear, and out-of-sorts without his gloves to soothe his fingers. Out of habit, he begins to dry wash his hands, and feeling the roughness of the backs of his knuckles, and the sharp eye of his old friend, he immediately stops.

"I don't know if this is fate or not, but the fact that you had those dreams is definitely something worth looking into. I'm sorry that your parents decided to take you to those doctors. We didn't know that they had did that." Hope catches a gleam in her eye that makes his heart skip a beat, and also causes him to be nervous. "At any rate, like I told you before, I was the only one who decided not to tell you any of this. I didn't know if all of us showing up in your life all of a sudden would be **more** detrimental to your growth and development. I was in favor of continuing to watch you from afar and help you benignly if so needed...er... 'spy' on you, actually, as you so eloquently put it." She chuckles, but Hope doesn't back down. Instead, his brows draw down in anger.

"Yeah, well, I'm glad that you guys were voting democratically. I needed to know the truth. I don't regret getting on the back of that bike with you, Light. I would still choose to go with you, if I could take it all back now, even knowing what I know. Even...what you just told me about Bhuni." Hope sure can't say the full name of the old god now. He represses the shudder that always involuntarily evokes from within at the mere mention of his arch-nemesis's name.

"Really?" Light asks, eyes downcast, and her word is almost lost in the wind and surf. After a while, she looks up, meeting Hope's eyes. They look glassy, distant. "I hope that you can still continue to feel that way in the days to come. I hope that you can look back on tonight, and that you still cling to that hope. I was starting to feel like some sort of kidnapper. I-I'm glad that the others made the right choice for me."

Hope steps up to her. "I know that I was a child to you for so long, Light, longer than anyone has ever known a child. I know that we have both been sleeping for different periods of time, for so long. But you have to start treating me like an adult. Because, guess what? I'm an adult now, officially, both on this world, and I was in the old. I've grown up. I've always wanted to know the truth, from what I can remember of myself. I've never shied away from what was real, even if it was painful, in either existence."

"You were all asking if Bhunivelze could somehow emerge from his eternal sleep and reach this world. It was in all of our hearts and minds before we made way for this Earth. That's the conversation that you're forgetting." Light finally gets to the point now, hair billowing in the wind. "I told all of you-all of us-that if he woke, it wouldn't matter. We would defeat him, again, because nothing changes the truths that made him disappear in the first place. This world still doesn't need a god-especially if that god doesn't understand human souls or emotions. You predicted that he might be coming back, Hope. And now, he has."

"So...what's with all the fuss? If we are confident we can beat him again, and we can, then what's the problem? Why the fear and all the military intervention? Sounds like he isn't a threat." Hope is confused. Why drag him to military school at all? He could have gone to the college of his choice without all of this. The anger quickly burns inside of him. Maybe it wasn't too late...no, his position at Brown would be filled by now. They weren't an institution to wait for him to decide.

"Nothing is certain, Hope. And the fact that you have these dreams...I'm thinking, maybe it means something. Unfortunately, YOU were the one out of all of us who spent that time with Bhunivelze, tortured by him. We think that, growing up, your memory suppression and belief that you were born as a 'normal' child kept the God at bay. We think that you might be a funneling point for his anger, Hope. We hope that with training and conditioning, we might use that to our advantage. Like a double-edged sword. If he has a way of coming back through this world due to some sort of impressionable bond that he left subconsciously on you or something like that, then maybe, just maybe, we can be forewarned and predict what his next move is going to be, and when."

"You want, you wanna **USE** me? Hey, I don't know about this. Maybe you're wrong. I'm not buying all this crap about some god from some other world used me. I mean, yeah, I have a vague recollection of him and all of us, and of being with him...but I mean, it's kind of stretching things a bit to say that I'm still connected to him in any way...like this is my fault...NO! I won't buy it!" Hope throws his arms out, shaking his head. "This is crazy talk! I can't believe that I'm still some sort of puppet, some sort of mouthpiece. It isn't fair. It isn't right."

"Hope, please try to remember your feelings you were talking about earlier. About still wanting the truth, and no regrets. Remember?" Light is talking in gentle, soothing tones now. She steps toward him, gloved hand reaching out.

"No! Get away from me! I need...I need some time. Some space. To think about all this." He tunnels a hand through that trademark silver hair.

"Hey! You guys just missed it!" A voice calls back from the wedding, and Hope and Light both turn toward the sound, shocked. Alyssa comes running up from the bungalow, and Hope can't help but scowl with more memories and irritation. She is literally the LAST person he would have wanted to show up and interrupt right now.

"Oh, hey guys, sorry if I interrupted anything." Right on cue, Alyssa Zeidel pants, bending over and grabbing her knees as she reaches the visibly tense and irritated duo. "But Fang just caught the bouquet!"


	9. Chapter 9

The next few weeks are a blur.

Hope is absolutely inundated with boot camp, studying, and trying to figure everything out. All of the pieces of the puzzle are out for examination after his last discussion with Light at the wedding-there are no more secrets. His memories of the past world, his past life, are still fuzzy-but he has now been filled in on all the details that his head can't process.

After the rigorous training, calisthenics, pristine cleaning sessions and grueling workouts, he lies awake in his minimalist concrete chamber, staring at the ceiling. The one blessing about being in the military is that, after his long days, sleep tends to come quickly. There are, however, a few moments where he has his thoughts to himself, and he has the chance to contemplate. Could he possibly be a conduit for Bhuni's power into this world? Is it possible he is inextricably linked with the old god, and always would be?

When he is feeling particularly despondent and homesick, he has macabre thoughts that there is always a backup plan if the God could see through his soul. He could always end himself, and that would be the end of that. He is wondering if that might be the exit plan altogether.

It's definitely enough to make him grow up even more. In the middle of jumping jacks at 0600 his is thinking about just how different he is from the people he used to go to school with on this planet. Most 18 year olds he'd ever heard about were out partying or worrying if they were going to pay their student loans in the future. He was worrying about if his entire existence might be the counter to all mankind's existence. Sort of like he might be the Antichrist on this planet or something. Scary thoughts.

A month goes by. His muscles hurt less. He is the quietest of his recruitment class, and in the mess hall, he swears he can see someone watching him out of the corner of his vision-a few people.

He thinks back to his first day. Alyssa was there, as a guide to tour the grounds. Hope immediately told her, upon sight, that she didn't have to continue the facade with him, and that he could figure out the layout of the school himself, thank you very much. She hissed that there was no way he could get into certain parts of the school without her, and that the moment he might step into places he shouldn't without a guide with him, he might get into trouble. Since that would compromise the entire point of going here, Hope had no choice but to grudgingly agree to have her lead him around. That didn't mean he enjoyed seeing her again, though. She had the nerve to be bubbly and cheerful the whole time she droned on while he tried to blot out the grating high-pitched sound of her voice. He had thought that on his first day, she would try to find him out, and was prepared to see her walking up to him, but it still wasn't pleasant.

After his first day there was the wedding, that day being his only day off.

Until now.

Hope chooses to stay on the grounds, even though he has a pass to leave for the day. He speaks with his mom and dad most nights, and doesn't really feel right driving home and trying to be upbeat about his feelings with them. They are both in the dark about his true reason for joining the school, as they should be. On this, everyone from the old world emphatically agreed. It was the only thing they had all agreed on. The less his parents knew, the better. They were told the half-truth that Hope was originally fed, that he chose to join his old friends in the fight to see if Bhuni had entered the world again, and to observe odd phenomena.

What WASN'T told to them, is that HE is one of the odd phenomena that his friends are wanting to observe. He is going to be a human guinea pig for a while, after completing the prerequisite courses.

The library is Hope's favorite place, because it reminds him of his previous life, and the comfort he used to find in books, when he was growing up in both worlds. It's a way to find a few moments of peace, in between the humiliation, soul-searching, and fear.

Hope has just found a remote corner when a loud _Plop!_ Sounds on the table in front of him, startling him out of his reading.

The sound comes from a huge tome hitting the metal table, and Hope blinks to see a pair of sky blue eyes laughing down at him.

"What are you doing here?" Hope mumbles, pretending to go back to his place. He is proud of the fact that his voice is steady, and that his hands aren't making the book tremble. _**Her.**_ That is something else he hasn't stopped thinking about in these past few weeks. He hadn't yet gotten the chance to make his feelings known to her, after their one wedding dance.

"I was about to ask YOU the same thing." The mocking, dark voice is saying over the edge of his vision, and there is loud scraping sound that sets Hope's teeth on edge. Looking up, he sees that Light has flipped the chair across from him around, and is straddling it, her hands folded across the chair back.

"Whaddya mean, Light?"

"This is your day off. Why aren't you at home?"

"Wow, prying much? That's my business, last time I checked."

"Okay, just wondering. Thought you might want some company today, seeing has how you're usually spending so many hours in what basically amounts to solitary. If I intruded, sorry. I'll just go now...enjoy your book..."

She's called his bluff, and she's right. Light hasn't even made it up off the back of the seat before Hope is calling out. "Wait!" Seeing that she has won this round, Light smirks and takes her time to settle back down.

"Oh...yes?"

"You're right about this place basically being solitary. It's a nightmare. Hard to adjust to, but I'll get used to it. Besides, this isn't going to be the hard part. I'm just warming up." Hope gives up all pretense of reading his book now, and places it quietly on the table surface next to him.

"I remember having to go through the drills. I thought I was done forever with BT after being in Guardian Corps on Cocoon. Thought once in one lifetime was enough. Nope. Going through the hassle of doing so all over again in this reincarnation was tough-it was a humbling experience, all right."

"So what do you do now for fun?" Hope just throws the question out there. When he knows what he wants, he isn't shy. He doesn't know if there will be another battle tomorrow, so best to enjoy the few moments of time he has to himself now.

Light is a little shocked by the question, and blinks at him, wide-eyed. "Well, I, er...I don't know." A little bit of color comes to her cheeks. "I, um...I haven't been on this Earth for a long time. Just a few months, so I haven't traveled a lot. Most of my time has been spent trying to find all the others from our past lives. And making sure that I got my foot in the military here. And researching my hunches on Bhunivelze. And finding you, and helping with your birthday celebration. Then convincing Alyssa to recruit you, and after that, more work..."

"Sounds like you've had less fun than I have had, Light. A WHOLE lot less. So, since between the two of us, I'm the more experienced with the ways of this world, let me show you what this place has to offer. I DID just grow up here, after all. It's settled. Going out with you would be a lot more fun than this stuffy place, anyway." Mind made up, and glad he could play guide for the day, Hope stands, and stretches a trademark fingerless glove across the table toward Light.

Lightning recognizes the gesture, the moment of Hope extending his hand toward her. It had been the same hand that had literally pulled her from the Chaos not so long ago. Those fingers, slightly twitching out of the material that covers his palm, and the symbolism behind his reach, aren't lost on her.

She can't NOT take them. She rises, and interlocks her palm with Hope's, keenly aware of his warmth, and the dry feeling of the dull leather that wraps around him. She finds herself staring down at their hands. Her fingers are so long and tapered, white and thin.

Hope looks down with her, and one long silvery-white hair strand softly falls against her sea of red. "Let's go." He whispers in the library.

Hours later, Light finds herself trying to shove a huge pink teddy bear into the back of Hope's Nitro. They are laughing and pushing and shoving, each taking turns trying to cram the plush teddy into the back of Hope's car.

Laughing, each giving up at the same time, they collapse against the soft squishiness.

"Well, it looks like we're going to have to tie it on the roof. Let's just hope that there aren't a lot of bugs out tonight."

"It's the end of September. There's no way up here in New York that there can be that many out still this late in the afternoon." Hope is looking at the bright side as he speaks, and takes a lick out of his ice cream cone. His choice was vanilla. He remembered the blush that had spread across Lightning's face when she ordered a strawberry-and-vanilla swirl, WITH sprinkles and caramel. The look she had shot him, daring him to comment or even say a word, had been enough to make Hope burst into laughter. Later, he'd promised to keep her ice cream sweet tooth, complete with a childlike love of toppings, a secret to his grave.

"I will say, that I hadn't thought of Coney Island being a good place for a first date, but I think that it's pretty traditional. I mean, a lot of kids that I went to school with took their girls here, and it's in all the movies...I mean, I couldn't NOT win you a huge prize to take home..."

"FIRST DATE!? WHAT!" Light blusters, spitting sprinkles everywhere. She jumps off the back of the SUV, whirling on Hope. Surprisingly, Hope is still leaning against the back of the vehicle, looking up at her calmly. Innocently, he takes one long lick of his cone, looking up at her over the cascading tumble of hair. She can't find words for a moment.

"Yeah, Light, first date. I mean, it was kind of awkward when you established that morning at IHOP that we weren't on one, so I thought I'd make this one clear. It wouldn't have bothered me even if you HAD wanted to take me on a breakfast date that morning. I think the second time isn't a coincidence. Admit it, what were you doing in the library on our only day off in who-knows-how-long by yourself? Wouldn't you be with Serah?"

"Serah's still on her honeymoon." Light mutters under her breath, almost too low to hear.

Hope nods once. "O-kay, so that still doesn't explain why you came to the library. It's no big secret on campus that the library is where I like to go all of the time. It would be easy, if you had studied where I'd be most likely to visit on my time off, to go. It would be a simple matter for you to wait for me to show up there. So, what is it, Light? It can only be two things. You're A. Lonely that Serah's gone and need someone to talk to. Since Snow IS the groom, that leaves...quite a few people from our old world, actually. I'm one of them. So it IS possible that you just wanted someone to talk to..."

"YES! That's what I wanted. I had some time off, too, and why do I have to have my motives questioned when I just wanted to visit old friends!" Light vehemently picks up on Hope's suggestion, but, nonplussed, Hope continues on to his next thought.

"OR, B. You were looking for me specifically, without anyone else around. I'm betting it was the latter."

Lightning stands up straight and tall. It's quite an accomplished feat, despite the fact that she's holding that ridiculous melting double-scoop of ice cream in one fist.

"That's quite a bold accusation. It's also one that I'm not welcome to hearing. Just so you know, you're wrong. I don't have to stand here and listen to this."

She whirls on one heel to leave, but Hope continues to sit. "When's the last time you've paid a visit to Sazh? Fang? Vanille?" Hope queries, loudly so that she can hear. "You might as well just tell me, Light. It would be innocent enough for me to just ask them when's the last time you've paid them a visit. There would be no reason for them to hide the truth from me. It'd be an innocuous enough question to ask. Sit down. Let's talk about this."

Light freezes, turns, levels Hope with an icy stare. To her credit, though, she doesn't sit down. "I'm not in the habit of dating little boys."

This stings Hope. The eighteen year old body housing a centuries-old mind bristles at the comment. "And I'm not in the habit of dating, period, just so you know. But I'm at least being an adult right now. Why can't you confront your feelings head-on? I'm willing to talk it out. I've never known you to back away from a challenge, Light..."

"YOU? A challenge?" Lightning snorts. A little dab of ice cream trickles down her cone. Hope watches the progression toward Lightning's fingers with a curious eye. The woman is continuing to talk.

"You give yourself airs, Mr. Hope Estheim. I appreciate today. Hell, I even enjoyed myself. But I wasn't setting myself up for this. This...is an outrage. I'll...I'll just go home now. We...we'll just pretend this never happened, and if anyone asks, nothing did." She pierces Hope with her stare. "Right? So, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to go home now. That is, if you're still willing to give me a ride back to my house..."

"Of course I'm your ride, Light. What did you think I'd do, leave you on the side of the road and take off, knowing you had no way home? Light, that's ridiculous. I want to date you. What makes you think I'd leave you here? I won't talk about dating you anymore, if that's what you want. I'll just drop you off. No problems. And don't worry. None of the others have to know about today, if that's what you want. Just so you know, I'd be proud to have you as my girl. There's nothing to hide from my side. I told you the truth. I'll wait until you want to discuss what you want. Actually, I'm glad this happened. I had a good time too, but I've been waiting to talk to you alone since your sister's wedding..."

"What? Just how long have you been harboring these fanciful notions...OH!" Lightning's stinging rebuke is cut off mid-sentence in surprise as Hope leaps up and takes her hand holding the ice cream. Ever so gently, he lowers his head, eyes never leaving hers, and stoops over to kiss the melted ice cream from Light's fingers. With infinitesimal softness, allowing her to ample time to withdraw at any moment, he hovers his lips over her knuckle, and with one single intake of breath, slurps the strawberry from her hand, never fully making contact.

Pretending that nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, Hope Estheim straightens and nods, as if making a serious scientific observation.

"Good. Very good. I think you might be on to something here, Light. I do believe your fully loaded ice cream is better than just the plain vanilla. Have to remember that, next time I want to get myself a cone."

Lightning Farron's face makes an O, and finally she speaks.

"Damn you and your analytical mind. Damn you to hell."

Hope's eyes twinkle with sheer mischief. "You know you love it. Anyway, let's put it to good use now, hmm? I have to get you home, but we have a problem. We have to tie this thing to the roof. And I need help. Will you help me, Lightning Farron?" Hope calls Light by her last name, and it snaps the old warrior-woman out of her reverie.

"Yes, I'll help. And, er, thank you for keeping today between the two of us. For now. But this WASN'T a date, because I wasn't aware of this being one. I do believe both parties have to be agreeable to the fact that a date is taking place to actually consider an outing a DATE, don't you?" Lightning states, and although she technically asks a question at the end, she doesn't wait for an answer. She is already moving, shoving the obscene teddy bear out of the way to get to some emergency jumper cables and nylon rope on the underneath of Hope's car.

"Besides," she pants, pulling the equipment out from underneath the dead weight of the plush, "I already told you, I'm not into dating children."


	10. Chapter 10

After basic training, Hope gets a week off.

During the two months left that he has of BT before he completes his courses, Alyssa keeps bumping into him at the oddest of times. Normally, he'd figure, he wouldn't be able to see her, since she works with talent scouting and he's...well, just a green recruit that's in the middle of basic training. He's already at West Point, and she should be traveling, right? Well, that's what he thought.

But no, Alyssa would find him in the mess hall, or in between training, or out of the showers, or right before bed. In no time, she'd found out that he liked to sit in the library, and she'd come and wave at him, or talk to him in the most inopportune moments.

It had made him so angry. At each turn, he was more and more short with her. She obviously had interest in talking to him, on more than just a friendly level, and nothing could be more repulsing to Hope.

In a last, desperate attempt to get the woman to leave him alone, he finally agreed to hang out with Alyssa outside of the school when he finished his basic training.

"So, it's standard BT until the middle of February," Alyssa was talking to herself within earshot of Hope in the library one afternoon. Hope was, at that time, engrossed in a book, as always. "I have off in February. Do you have a lot of friends, Hope?"

That last question, unfortunately, catches the young man off guard, and he snaps to irritated attention. "Huh? What?"

"I asked if you had any friends. Basically, I'm trying to feel you out to see if you're gonna be busy after your break." Alyssa states bluntly to Hope over the rim of his novel.

Hope is grudgingly impressed by her bluntness. "I...er...no. I don't. I can't think of hardly ANY friends that I have, except those I made on the old world. Well, and a few enemies, too." Hoping the woman would get the point, Hope turns back to reading, angry that she had succeeded in pulling him out of his thoughts in the first place.

"Well, good. I thought so." Boy, she was irritating. "I was thinking, I'm an old friend. I knew you in the old world. A lot of people from Cocoon and Pulse are busy during that time in February, but I'm not! I know you probably wanna go home for a bit, like most do, but since you live so close...why don't we do something during your week off?"

"Sure." Hope finds himself saying. He is used to going, "Mmm hmm," and, "Oh," to add off-hand interjections to Alyssa's prattling, so saying "Sure" is just a natural reaction to her speaking by now. It's something that he has gotten conditioned to saying whenever she launches into a diatribe. He's found out that it's quicker to get her to shut up by just nodding and agreeing with whatever she's saying than to actually listen and add an opinion to what she thinks. He's caught in his own trap, and it's too late.

"Oh, great! So, I'll call you at your house sometime a day or two after your release." Alyssa is already jumping up from her seat and pushing her chair gratingly back under the table. "See you then, bye!" With a jaunty wave of her digits, the blonde is flouncing off, humming to herself loudly in the otherwise quiet library.

Hope remembers groaning and closing his book with a hopeless _snap_. "Oh, no, what have I gotten myself into?"

Alyssa keeps true to her word.

Hope had just settled back into his old room, which his mom had kept up to specs since he'd left. His father, surprisingly, had also made an appearance to welcome his son back home from basic training, and to be there to spend time with his family. It was the first year that the family hadn't celebrated Christmas together since Hope could remember, either in this world, or the last, due to the fact that he had been at West Point. His dad said that in turn for working this past Christmas, he had arranged for time off when Hope would have a brief respite after BT.

Hope's relationship with Bartholomew had been anything but spectacular, but Hope had learned to give grudging respect to the head of his household. Bartholomew had proven that he had faith in his son on the previous world, when he gave refuge to Hope and his friends after they were wanted by the state.

In this reincarnation, Bartholomew had continued in his efforts to put work and career first, and it seemed such a waste to Hope. Now that Hope understood that his parents perfectly retained all of their memories from the past, he has been more distant as of late with his father. Needless to say, his homecoming, and the surprise of his father by his mother's side when he came home, wasn't as pleasant as it normally should have been. Bartholomew understood what had kept his family distant, and gained insight and wisdom when Nora had died in the old world. Only after the loss of his wife, had he understood that his family, and his relationship with his son, was the most important. Now that he literally had a second chance, an opportunity that most don't have, he has fallen back into his old habits.

When Hope was growing up on Earth, he had seen his father fall back into his reclusive, workaholic traits, and had chalked this attitude up toward ignorance. After all, he thought he was crazy, and his parents had been steadily maintaining the facade that Hope was suffering from delusions. He had thought that his father was a victim to his habits, and an unconscious party to the quiet detachment he gave toward his house.

With the coming of Hope's birthday, he realized that Bartholomew knew all along where he had come from, and the fact that he couldn't use the excuse of ignorance of his past life no longer shielded his actions from Hope's judgement. Now, Bartholomew could be held fully accountable for not taking this second chance by the horns and correcting past mistakes. He could become more interactive with his family. Instead, he willingly falls back into the lonely provider, and Hope hasn't been able to talk with his dad about how that had made him feel.

Hope doesn't think he'll ever have that talk with his dad. He keeps his adopted attitude of bored teenager, a shield which he can now use when his parents try to entice him with talk. He tells little white lies that he figures most green recruits tell their parents after their basic training, of how exaggerated the stories of the physical regime are. It's simple. Too simple. His brain needs entertainment.

Enter Alyssa Zedielle.

For better or for worse, her call on the second day of Hope's week off comes as an excuse to get out and be away from the thoughts of his family, and his newfound feelings toward his father. He doesn't have to worry about instigating what would no doubt prove to be an uncomfortable conversation with Bartholomew if he goes out with Alyssa. Besides, he's only off for a week. It'd be kind of cruel to start a fight with his dad in such a short amount of time.

Telling himself that no matter what Alyssa has cooked up, it had to be better than his home life, he picks up when she calls.

That's how he finds himself on what could only be termed as a date with her the next day.

It was textbook. She wanted dinner and a movie, then hanging at her place. He'd said okay. Snow and Serah were honeymooning, Sazh was on a mission overseas, and things with Light were shaky. He couldn't hang out at home...so that had left Fang and Vanille, actually, but he wanted to talk to Fang about her relationship with Vanille, and didn't think THAT conversation would turn out well, either.

He has it in his plans this week to drop by and pay them a visit, either together or separate, but Alyssa's fanciful notion of a "date" with him beforehand clears up some time that he suddenly finds himself overflowing with.

Dinner's first. Of course. They decide to meet up at a local burger joint, nothing too fancy. Alyssa had insisted on "keeping it casual." Hope had said over the phone that he wasn't interested in romantic association, but had pretty much stated that he was bored and he was using the outing as something to do. Just to establish ground rules and to let it be understood that he wasn't into Alyssa as a girlfriend.

Alyssa had said she understood. Hope didn't really care if she truly did or not. As soon as they sit down in their chairs, Hope is telling the bored-looking waitress that the checks are going to be separate. Alyssa smiles and bats her eyelashes. She's wearing some sort of new perfume, and the stink of it is making Hope's nose itch from across the table.

"Thanks for meeting with me tonight, Hope. Although I was sure you'd come." Alyssa says confidently, and it immediately puts Hope in an irritated mood. Though, truth be told, he had already been irritated before he ever showed up, so it was kind of a moot point.

"What do you mean, you'd know I'd show up?" He asks, scanning through the menu and just wanting the food to get to the table already. He was hungry, and it beat getting delivery or having to sit down at a formal table with his dad.

"Oh, well, I know that it isn't the best situation with your home life right now, besides, I don't think you'd want to be hanging out with the friends you'd known in your high school. There's so much different between what you know now, and what you were denying yourself then."

She's right about both points, and it's grating. "That's quite a bold statement to make about my family. How do you know you're right?"

Alyssa smiles. "I went to your house, remember? I think I'm the only one that's actually talked to your mother, outside of the birthday party and the wedding. I was in the environment. I got the feeling that Bartholomew isn't around much. The things you told me about your childhood back in the old planet are happening again here, right? 'Cept now, there's no excuse. You're stuck between resentment and wanting to put the past aside. I can understand." Alyssa reaches out across the table to touch Hope's arm, and he finds himself pulling back slightly.

Miffed, Alyssa retreats back. "Your silence is complicit. You don't have to say anything else." She smiles coyly. "I knew I was right."

Hope decides to not dignify the statement with a response.

The rest of the meal actually goes okay, the food is decent, hot, and cheap. Alyssa drones on about her own life, and for a moment or two, Hope gets lost in the rhythm of pretending to listen and nod. Focusing on the mundane actually takes his mind off more pressing matters, and Alyssa is the perfect diversion to reality that Hope needs in his life just then.

They take the subway to the movie, Hope suggesting the method of transportation in order to stick them both in as crowded a place as possible.

They wait in line for tickets, then Hope brusquely tells Alyssa that if she wants her own refreshments, it's on her dime. Alyssa pretends not to mind. They file into a full theater.

To Hope's chagrin, it's packed enough that he can't justify having a space between them in the row. They have to sit next to each other. Alyssa is beaming, he can see her grin as she snuggles in next to him out of the corner of his eye, even in the low lighting.

The speakers are playing loud music as people filter in, and Hope turns to catch her in her goofy grin.

"Do you like me?" He asks the question bluntly, out of the blue, on purpose.

Alyssa doesn't seem to be put off guard. She blinks at him. "Why, yes, Hope. I always kind of have. You know that. I know you've never returned the feelings though. And that's okay, as long as I can get to hang out with you. I mean, I guess it's better than you hating me, after what happened between us so long ago."

Hope opens his mouth to speak, but someone in the row behind them loudly _shush_es him before he can. Angry, he blinks, but then dramatically faces forward. There is a tense pause, but he can't hold in his comment any longer. Unfazed, he whips back around to his date.

"Why do you push yourself at someone that you know has never liked you back? What, you can't find someone else in this town? Or do you have a masochistic streak that I don't wanna know about?"

Hope promptly gets _shush_ed once more, and unable to contain his anger and feelings just between him and Alyssa, he instead directs it at the person in the row behind him.

"What, are you serious? It's the PREVIEWS, dude. I'm not being any louder than your obnoxious shushing. Why don't you get mad when the movie actually _starts_."

Alyssa giggles, and when Hope turns around, she lobs a popcorn kernel at him. Hope can't help but sort of grin back. Looking out of the corner of his eye, he can see that her shoulders are shaking violently with laughter, and her hand is clapped over her mouth.

"What?" He mutters, brushing the popcorn she threw at him on the floor.

"I've never seen you get that angry before. I mean, I know you HAD, just...not around me. You'd always sent me away before you got to the point of anger."

"That's because you were annoying, and I didn't want you around."

"And now?"

"Now? Well...you're still annoying. But I guess I have to give you a pass, because everyone else is saying I should." He pauses. "Light trusts you. So. That's it, then."

The mood between them is palpably different once Hope mentions Light's name, and Alyssa sits back in her seat once more. They are quiet for a while. The guy behind them is probably appeased. This time, however, Alyssa breaks their silence, unable to hold what she's thinking inside.

"You like her, don't you?"

"What?" Hope asks, irritation still clear in his voice.

"SHH!" The same guy is louder now, obviously angry.

Hope twists around once more. "What, she gets to ask me a question and you don't say anything to her, but I say one word in response, and _I'm_ the one you tell to be quiet?"

"Sir, ma'am, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to be quiet, or leave." An usher is now included in the fray, and a bright red baton gleams menacingly at the end of the aisle. "We've been getting complaints about the amount of noise level here. This is your warning. Next time, you will be escorted out of the theater. No refunds."

The usher leaves, point having been made. A satisfying chortle sounds as the usher walks away, and another voice can be heard, "About_ time_ they showed up."

Hope is genuinely shocked. "Welp, I've never been threatened for noise BEFORE a movie starts before. This is a first." He looks at Alyssa. "It's your fault. They can somehow sense just how much your voice talking through the whole thing is going to be a distraction to everyone in the whole damn theater."

Alyssa blinks, crams a fistful of popcorn in her mouth, chews, and gulps from the oversized straw. "Okay." She smacks as she sets the drink down. "Let's leave."

"What? You crazy?" Hope snorts.

"Let's go somewhere where we can talk. And let's ask for our money back now before the movie starts. I don't wanna wait for them to come back. C'mon, let's go." Mind made up, she promptly stands up and bends over, holding out her hand to Hope.

Hope is irritated that everyone behind them is now being made to wait for him to make up his mind to leave or stay, based on how Alyssa is purposely standing to block their view. It's such a set up, so obvious what she is doing, that he can't even be mad.

Sighing, Hope gets up to leave, the smattering of applause following him out of the theater.

"Fine, but where are we going?" He queries Alyssa, who is apologizing to the other people in the row as they scoot out toward the aisle.

"I dunno...why not your favorite place, the library? We can go to the big one!" Alyssa chirps behind Hope's shoulder as they make their way out into the lobby. They are both shrugging into their coats, and Hope is fishing out his stub for his refund at the customer service counter.

Hope rolls his eyes at the ceiling. At this rate, he wouldn't be surprised if she knew what his favorite foods were.

"The library isn't exactly the best place to talk, Alyssa. It IS a library, you know. Not a place where people can talk."

"Oh, right." The young blonde looks crestfallen, but only for a moment. She visibly brightens, and tugs on his shirt coat. "Oh! I know! How about my place! I live by myself, you know. Well, almost. With a roommate. But they're never home. We can talk there!"

Hope visibly winces. He's being set up. Again. After making his request for a refund known to the clerk, he turns back to a smiling upturned face.

"Fine. But only because it's better than being at home."

"I KNEW it!" The old betrayer sounds too happy. Hope groans. He hopes that he isn't making a big mistake.


End file.
